Zivania, the clear spirit of the Cypriot vineyards

Sooner or later, at a village taverna in Cyprus, a plain clear bottle will appear next to the wine. That’s zivania, and the thing I like about it is that it makes no effort to win you over. It’s a dry, strong grape marc spirit with the same kind of legal protection as halloumi. Here’s how it’s made according to its EU file, and how I’d drink it. The rest of the Cypriot table is in Cypriot food.

A spirit with protected status

Zivania has been listed as a Cypriot geographical indication since 13 February 2008, under file PGI-CY-01942 in the EU’s eAmbrosia register, and in 2021 it was also entered in WIPO’s Lisbon system. The production area is the territory of the Republic. The file places it in the same family as Italian grappa, Spanish orujo and Greek tsipouro, and then explains where it parts company with them. No flavourings, no sweetening, no colouring. What you get is a clear liquid that smells of the grapes it came from.

How it’s made

Healthy grapes are picked when ripe, destemmed and left to ferment with their skins, sometimes still in clay jars and without sulphur dioxide. When fermentation ends, the free-run wine is drawn off and isn’t distilled. What goes into the still is the fermented marc, with up to 2 per cent healthy lees, distilled once and directly in batch stills. Iron stills are banned. It’s then cut with water to between 43 and 52 per cent and rested until it settles.

Most of it comes from the native grapes, red Mavro and white Xynisteri. A single foreign variety is allowed, but it must be fermented and distilled on its own and named on the label. That’s why KEO sells a Soultanina zivania, and it’s details like that which make the subject worth a closer look.

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Why it tastes of Cyprus

The file doesn’t stop at the method, it also makes the case for origin. It cites chemical studies that set zivania apart from other European marc spirits by its copper, magnesium and zinc content, which it links to the island’s soils, shallow, chalky and eroded in the foothills, and volcanic, on dry-stone terraces, along the south-eastern slopes of the Troodos. Add the climate, with mild winters and long, dry summers, and two grapes that cope with drought better than imported ones. It also puts the spirit’s touch of furfural and copper down to simple distillation in traditional copper stills. Put plainly, what you’re poured in a mountain village comes out of that landscape, which is why I’d rather order it there than at the airport.

Picking a bottle

If you want to bring one home, the labelling rules help. The name Zivania must appear in letters at least 7 mm high, the producer or bottler has to be named, and the stated strength can’t be more than 0.2 per cent away from the real one. A single-grape bottle will also name the variety. Plain as the bottles look, those details tell you more than the design does.

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A drink with a long village history

The Cyprus Food Virtual Museum records that villages had their own stills, the «lambikos», and neighbours brought their marc to whoever owned one. Zivania was drunk like wine, formed part of farmworkers’ breakfast before a day in the fields and went with meze. It also served as a home remedy for rubs, colds and toothache. At old-style weddings, the Monday after the ceremony meant toasting the couple with brandy, wine or zivania. And in Kyperounta today, it’s also distilled from apples.

The Famagusta tourism board speaks of some 700 years of tradition, while the museum dates it at least to Venetian rule as a source of income for growers. Either way, it’s as old as winemaking on the island, which I cover in Cypriot wine.

How should you drink zivania?

Cold, in a small glass, and slowly. KEO suggests serving it ice-cold with something savoury, such as nuts or dried fruit, as an aperitif or at the end of a meal. I’d have it with a Cypriot meze, where it fits best because it cuts through grilled meat and halloumi. If you want something sweet to finish, the island’s dessert wine is Commandaria, not zivania.

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Where to find it

Most supermarkets stock it, as do the shops in the wine villages. Its file names the best-known zivania festivals, in the Kouris valley, Alona, Polystypos, Pelendri, Omodos and Koilani. Alona and Polystypos sit in Pitsilia, on the Nicosia side of the Troodos, covered in Alona and Polystypos. If you’re packing a bottle in your hold luggage, the best sign of the real thing is a label with the name in large letters and the exact strength, as the rules require. More ideas in souvenirs from Cyprus.

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