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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 295 View PDF version of this page instead of the colour becoming paler by great age,2 it deepens to an extraordinary degree. The new wine is the ordinary tint of sherry, but it gradually* becomes darker, until after forty or fifty years it is almost black, with the syrup-like consistence of new* honey. Wine of this age and quality is muchi esteemed, and is worth a fancy price. I was pre-l sented with several bottles of the famous old Cyprus growths of commanderia, morocanella, and muscadine,! by the kindness of Mr. Lanites, who is largely inter-4 ested in the trade at Limasol. The old commanderiaJ-{ was sufficiently sweet to occasion a roughness in thei throat, and each quality was far too luscious for? English taste, but might have been agreeable toi sip like Tokay, by soaking a sponge biscuit. Thed utterly rude method of producing native wines,, which can scarcely be dignified by the term " manu-| facture, " is a sufficient explanation of their inferiori1 quality, but at the same time it is a proof of the greati wine-producing power of Cyprus, where, in spite oi ignorance and neglect, an extensive commerce has^i been established, which adds materially to the revenue; of the island. If these badly-made wines havei founded an important trade, there is every reason) to expect a corresponding extension when scientifici: principles shall have resulted in a superior quality. 1
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 andi 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 foi a few months, which, according to Cyprian taste, arJ sufficient to prepare it for consumption. The stalks
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