Guest Blog Post by Kailash Gurnani
The seeds of my harvest here were sown in 2008 when I met Marcos Zambartas of Zambartas Wineries at the University of Adelaide in Australia where I was studying my Bachelors in Oenology. In the middle of 2011, I was looking to work in a small family owned winery making small batches of premium wine. Zambartas Wineries was where my search ended. Catching up with a friend, visiting a Mediterranean country, learning about a new culture & winemaking perspective made me look no further. I had gained experience in red winemaking at Hardys Tintara in Mclaren Vale, Australia & sparkling winemaking at Domaine Chandon Australia in the Yarra Valley.
Cyprus promised to be a new experience for the grape varieties, climate and nature of the wine industry. Terraced hills slopes across the Limassol and Paphos regions that used to be vineyards signalled the history and significance of grape growing and winemaking in the country. Although it is unfortunate to see a lot these vineyards uprooted; the viticulture, soil, climate conditions and resulting grape quality shows a lot of promise of new Cypriot wines that can stand their own ground.
Having a preference towards red winemaking, I have fond memories of walking through Maratheftiko and Lefkada vineyards. To say the least, I have never ever tasted such flavoursome grapes in the vineyard let alone when they are harvested and brought into the winery. I consider myself lucky to have made wine with these varieties and eagerly look forward to the 2011 Zambartas Maratheftiko, 2011 Zambartas Shiraz-Lefkada (maturing in barrels as we speak) & the 2011 Zambartas Rose (Lefkada-Cabernet Franc) when they are bottled.
I owe my memorable winemaking experience to the Zambartas Wineries family and the beautiful Island of Aphrodite. Delicious food, lovely people, amazing culture, fantastic wine & how can I forget that liquid gold the Cypriots call Commandaria. I look forward to come back to it all soon.
More About Kailash Gurnani, Winemaker, York Winery – Nashik, Maharashtra, India. @gkailash_
Kailash comes from a family of Businessmen & Entrepreneurs in India, where fatherly dream pursuits become realities. His father, Lilo Gurnani got the family into winemaking in 2005 which spurred his winemaking studies in Australia in 2006, as operations at York Winery in the Nashik Valley of India started to take shape.