Discover the Unparalleled Quality of Oenou Yi – Ktima Vassiliades

Oenou Yi – Ktima Vassiliades is built amphitheatrically between the peaks of Laona and Afamis in the Troodos Mountains, facing Mount Olympus, at altitudes between 800 and 1,060 meters. The winery sits in Omodos, one of the main wine villages of the Cypriot countryside and a region whose winemaking history runs through the whole of the island’s viticultural tradition.

The estate combines high-technology winemaking equipment with traditional vinification practices, drawing on privately owned vineyards — some more than 120 years old — planted with indigenous Cypriot varieties including Mavro, Xinisteri, Maratheftiko, Lefkada, Promara, Vasilissa, and Yiannoudi, alongside international varieties such as Shiraz, Cabernet, Mourvedre, and Chardonnay.

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Oenou Yi winery team in the lab and barrel cellar at Ktima Vassiliades

The Quality Behind Oenou Yi's Estate Wines

Oenou Yi – Ktima Vassiliades was founded in 2017 by Christodoulos G. Vassiliades — a lawyer by training and a winemaker by inheritance. Born and raised in Omodos, Christodoulos studied law at Athens Law School and, on returning to Cyprus, worked at several law firms before co-founding his own practice. But his real inheritance came from his father, Georgios Vassiliades, a vine grower and winemaker himself — one link in a family winemaking line that Christodoulos is, by his own account, the tenth generation to carry forward.

Rather than treating the winery as a side project, Christodoulos took over the family’s viticultural business and rebuilt it with a modern winery, high-tech equipment, and a clear ambition: to produce fine wine for a demanding domestic and international audience while making Oenou Yi a genuine cultural space for the region, not just a commercial vineyard. It’s a rare kind of founder story — a professional with an entirely different career deciding to formalize and modernize ten generations of family winemaking rather than let it end with his father’s generation.

A Living Tradition from the Vineyards of Omodos

The Vassiliades Family and Their Winemaking Team

Each bottle from Oenou Yi reflects both the terroir of Omodos and a family winemaking lineage that predates the modern winery by generations.

  • Founded in 2017 by Christodoulos Vassiliades, a tenth-generation winemaker from Omodos
  • Vineyards at 800–1,060 meters altitude between the peaks of Laona and Afamis, facing Mount Olympus
  • Some estate vineyards are more than 120 years old
  • Focused on Cyprus’s indigenous grape varieties — Mavro, Xinisteri, Maratheftiko, Lefkada, Promara, Vasilissa, Yiannoudi — alongside select international varieties
  • Home to Commandaria, the oldest named wine still in production, and Zivania, Cyprus’s traditional marc spirit

Oenou Yi brings together a documented, decade-spanning family winemaking lineage, the specific terroir of Omodos, and modern winemaking technology in a single estate.

Oenou Yi: Composition and Character

Oenou Yi’s range centers on Cyprus’s own winemaking traditions rather than imported styles. Commandaria — the estate’s flagship — is made from hand-picked Mavro and Xinisteri grapes, naturally sun-dried to concentrate their sweetness before fermentation, a method essentially unchanged since antiquity. Zivania, the estate’s traditional spirit, is distilled from the marc (skins and stems) of Xinisteri and Mavro grapes, fermented at controlled temperatures and distilled in a modern still for a clean, consistent result.

ProductCharacter
Commandaria PDODeep, luxurious sweet wine with notes of dried fruit, honey, and warming spice
ZivaniaClean, firm-bodied spirit with citrus flower, peach, and rose aromatics
Xynisteri-MalagaA tribute to Omodos's traditional pipilla lace-making tradition
RodámbeloElegant, fragrant rosé with a bright, intense colour

This range reflects a winery built specifically around what Omodos and Cyprus’s indigenous varieties can produce, rather than one trying to replicate international wine styles.

 

How to Best Enjoy Oenou Yi Wines

Commandaria is traditionally enjoyed as a dessert wine on its own or alongside rich desserts, and pairs naturally with strong cheeses and dried fruit. Zivania is a classic accompaniment to Cypriot meze, traditionally served at the end of a meal.
OccasionHow to Enjoy
Dessert CourseServe Commandaria alongside or in place of dessert
Cypriot MezeZivania traditionally accompanies a full meze spread
Cheese PairingCommandaria pairs naturally with aged, salty cheeses
GiftingCommandaria's history as one of the world's oldest named wines still in production makes it a distinctive gift

The estate’s tasting room and cellar in Omodos also offer wine tours and tastings directly on-site, for anyone visiting Cyprus who wants to experience the wines where they’re made.

Oenou YI Ktima Vassiliades Winery

Traditional and Sustainable Practices in the Vineyards of Omodos

Oenou Yi’s vineyards are shaped by centuries-old Omodos agricultural practices as much as by modern viticulture. Dry-stone terraces — built using the traditional stonework of Omodos — prevent soil erosion on the estate’s steep mountain slopes, a technique passed down through generations of the village’s winegrowers. Rows are also bordered with aromatic rose bushes, a traditional practice that helps protect the vines, continuing a method used across the region for generations before modern pest control existed.

This combination of terraced, erosion-resistant slopes and traditional companion planting reflects a winery built to work with Omodos’s mountain terrain rather than against it.

Their approach

Oenou Yi combines a family winemaking lineage ten generations deep with modern equipment and vinification science, applied specifically to Cyprus’s indigenous grape varieties and the terraced, rose-bordered vineyards of Omodos. The winery’s stated aim is to produce fine wine for a demanding audience while keeping the estate a genuine cultural space for the region.

Choosing Oenou Yi means choosing a winery built on documented family history, indigenous Cypriot varieties, and the specific terroir of one of Cyprus’s most storied wine villages. A bottle of Commandaria or Zivania also makes a distinctive addition to our gift boxes and hampers, especially for anyone sending a taste of Cyprus abroad.

Learn more about Oenou Yi.

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Recognized Cypriot Winemaking

Oenou Yi – Ktima Vassiliades has earned international recognition, including honors at the Berliner Wine Trophy. The estate’s focus on indigenous Cypriot varieties and traditional methods like Commandaria’s sun-drying process has also positioned it among Cyprus’s notable wine producers in independent wine guides and directories.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Oenou Yi

  • Who is behind Oenou Yi – Ktima Vassiliades?

    The winery continues a Vassiliades family winemaking tradition carried down through earlier generations, most recently by Giorgos Vassiliades; Oenou Yi Winery was formally established in 2017, and today its wines are made by a team led by oenologist Aikaterini-Evangelia Mylona.

  • What does "Oenou Yi" mean?

    It translates to “Land of Wine.”

  • Where is Oenou Yi located?

    In Omodos, a traditional wine village in the Troodos Mountains of the Limassol district, Cyprus, with vineyards between 800 and 1,060 metres in altitude, between the peaks of Laona and Afamis.

  • What is Commandaria?

    A sweet wine made from hand-picked, naturally sun-dried Mavro and Xynisteri grapes, widely recognized as the oldest named wine still in production.

  • What is Zivania?

    Cyprus’s traditional grape marc spirit, distilled from the skins and stems of Xynisteri and Mavro grapes after fermentation, and traditionally served alongside Cypriot meze.

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