Lanites, who is largely interested
in the trade at Limasol. The old commanderia was sufficiently sweet to
occasion a roughness in the throat, and each quality was far too
luscious for English taste, but might have been agreeable to sip like
Tokay, by soaking a sponge biscuit. The utterly rude method of producing
native wines, which can scarcely be dignified by the term "manufacture,"
is a sufficient explanation of their inferior quality, but at the same
time it is a proof of the great wine-producing power of Cyprus, where,
in spite of ignorance and neglect, an extensive commerce has been
established, which adds materially to the revenue of the island. If
these badly-made wines have founded an important trade, there is every
reason to expect a corresponding extension when scientific principles
shall have resulted in a superior quality.
The black wines receive even less care than the commanderia; the grapes
are trodden, and are thrown into receptacles to ferment, together with
the skins and stalks. This bruised mass, after lying a certain time
exposed to fermentation, is pressed, and the muddy juice is stowed in
the large tarred jars to ripen for a few months, which, according to
Cyprian taste, are sufficient to prepare it for consumption. The stalks
and black skins, being extremely rich in tannin, have imparted to the
wine a powerful astringency and the exceedingly dark colour which so
disagreeably distinguish this common quality.
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