Makarounas Winery: Starting A Wine Renaissance in Cyprus

It seems like an exaggeration, but Theodoros Makarounas may well be the most important winemaker in Cyprus since medieval times, when its world-renowned sweet wine, Commandaria, was considered ‘the wine of kings.’ Subjugation due to centuries of Ottoman and British rule would crush the island’s winemaking, leaving only bulk production, co-operatives, and indifferent wine. Theodoros is changing that.

When he returned to Cyprus in 2016 with his UC Davis enology degree, he decided not to follow the established path of selling fruit to larger producers as his family has done for generations. Rather, as the only producer on the island who retains control of the grapes from vineyard to winery, he built something unprecedented in modern times—an estate winery. 

A Singular Terroir with Indigenous Treasures

Theodoros organically farms 25 hectares climbing from 400 to 600 meters in the village of Letymbou, situated in the foothills of the Troodos Mountains, where ungrafted vines root into crystal gypsum, limestone, and quartz-rich soils that provide natural drainage while retaining enough moisture for deep root systems. The Troodos foothills are central to modern Cypriot wine. Being closer to Turkey and Syria than even to Greece or Europe, Cyprus boasts a climate more Levantine than Greek—hotter, drier, and more intense. The mountains’ elevation moderates the island’s otherwise intense Mediterranean heat, while cool nighttime temperatures preserve acidity, freshness, and aromatic precision. 

The Troodos range is geologically unusual: an uplifted section of ancient oceanic crust whose fractured volcanic and sedimentary soils produce patchwork diversity across short distances. Historically, these writhing mountain foothills also served as a haven for old vineyards, indigenous varieties, and ungrafted vines.  

Theodoros works almost primarily with Cyprus’s native varieties: Maratheftiko and Xynisteri, Spourtiko and Giannoudi, Promara and Vasilissa.  Hardly museum pieces, these are living expressions of millennia of adaptation to this exact climate and soil, thus making compelling cases for themselves. Maratheftiko offers dark fruit and violet aromatics with uncommon verve for a warm climate. Xynisteri gives saline minerality and citrus tension that recalls both Assyrtiko’s power and Vermentino’s ease. He’s also built a reputation for his masterful winemaking of Cabernet Franc, a varietal that found its way to their vineyards by accident and have become a cornerstone of their property.

In addition to organic farming, Makarounas’ vineyards are 100% ungrafted.  He uses indigenous yeasts for fermentation in all of his wines.  He is very minimal in his approach, making wines that exhibit the true character of each varietal without masking flavors with oak or additives. His use of amphora and cement for fermentation follows this philosophy. 

Ancient Material, Modern Identity

International recognition has followed quickly. Jancis Robinson’s selection of Makarounas’ Spourtiko for a “Best White Wines” feature shows that Cypriot wine can move from being just a curiosity to joining the fine-wine mainstream. 

Ironically, the island’s long marginalization inadvertently preserved the genetic diversity the modern wine world currently seeks. At a time when climate and generational change  demand durable varieties that can translate terroir, Cyprus arrives with ungrafted genetic material that connects compellingly to pre-industrial viticulture.

Makarounas embodies this convergence, and each bottle delivers the promise that Cyprus’s greatest viticultural chapter is just starting to unfold.