Our Wine
Our wine is a fundamental process in the cured meat we produce. It’s a phase whereby our whole muscle products are bathed in dry red wine and left for over a week to take on the complex flavours of the wine as well as its colour.
The marinading of wine post curing is a method Cyprus has been using for many many years. Cyprus is the oldest wine making country in the EU, dating back 5500 years. We are uncertain to the exact reasons this process originated however we do know it adds great flavour and further enhances its preservation performance.
The wine we opted for was just as important as the meat we used in our charcuterie, so it was only right that we used the same grape, the ‘Mavro’ (black) of the Troodos mountains which is traditionally used in Pitsillia, a region renowned for its cured meats. We are proud that Tsiakkas winery of this region supplies The Greek Farmer with a wine produced exclusively for us using only the Mavro grape.
But what is this variety and its importance in Cyprus wine history?
Black is the most famous and most planted grape variety in Cyprus. It has its roots on the island for at least five thousand years and thrives from the lowest to highest altitude vineyards. Black is a variety that does not have an intense colour and yet it is full bodied.
It was in early 2021 that the EU included two Cypriot products produced in the village of Pitsilia as protected geographic indications (PGI’S):
“According to the European Commission, the sausage of Pitsillia (Loukaniko Pitsilias) is a pork product, aged, smoked, and marinated in wine, from the Pitsilia region, while Lountza Pitsilias is a refined product made from dried meat, brine, smoked and marinated in wine, prepared from pork tenderloin.”
We feel privileged that we are able to use the grape that has been traditionally used to produce these products. Our wine is used throughout all our products, whether they have been marinaded as a whole muscle or mixed into our salami.
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View of Tsiakkas Vineyards
