Commandaria is an amber-colored dessert wine made from the indigenous Mavro and Xynistery varieties of red grapes in the Commandaria region of Cyprus (centered near the city of Kolossi). It is an origin-controlled unfortified sweet wine with a natural alcohol content of 15%. It is usually aged in oak casks for several years, but does not need or benefit from additional aging once bottled.
The wine has a rich history, said to date back to the time of the ancient Greeks, where it was a popular drink at festivals celebrating the goddess Aphrodite. In the twelfth century AD (during the crusades), Richard the Lionheart is said to have enjoyed it greatly at his wedding in Cyprus and to have pronounced it "the wine of kings and the king of wines." Near the end of the century he sold the island to the Knights Templar, who then sold it to Guy de Lusignan, but kept a large estate -- the Gran Commandarie -- to themselves. This area under the control of the Knights Templar (and subsequently the Knights Hospitaller) became known as Commandaria. When the knights began producing large quantities of the wine in this region for export to Europe's royal courts, it became known as Commandaria, thus giving it the distinction of being the world's oldest named wine.
