The Family Legacy

Santa Irene winery is the fulfilment of a man’s dream. Daniel Anastasis left his beloved village Farmakas, as a young man for Australia and subsequently made a life in South Africa with his wife Theoni and their children. He cherished the memories of his childhood and returned to Farmakas, Cyprus to embrace what he found. Daniel has memories of how his grandfather used to take his homemade wines and zivania in goatskin bags to Nicosia by donkey, the vision was strong one he couldn’t let go, but it was when he walked through the forgotten ruins of his grandfathers derelict home and saw the pitharka (storage jars) he knew what it was that he was to do.

Daniel and Theoni restarted the ancient craft of growing vines and making wine in Farmakas in 2015, stirring life again on the mountain. The sheer beauty of the wild countryside is breathtaking and awe inspiring. Perched precariously on the slopes of the mountains above the village, the vines of Farmakas are easily amongst the highest in Cyprus and some of the oldest: their roots burrow deep into the slopes of the earth and were planted 150 years ago.

Daniel and Theoni have designed and built a small modern winery in the village as well as established a high end restaurant to compliment wine tasters and people seeking to get away or meander into the coolness of the mountain regions. Their objective has been the promotion of Cypriot wine and the education of the wine tradition, they have tended the vines specifically in the Pitsilia region, the high mountains that surround the village. Daniel and Theoni started their wine journey by revitalising their own vineyards slowly and steadily but noticed that many of the vines in the area had been neglected, this was due to the fact that the old generation could not tend to them and the young had relocated to cities and parts of Europe.

The vines grown in the area are of great value as they would produce wines that were different because of the age of the vines and the high altitude, this is the key to the success of Santa Irene Winery. The winery now cultivates many of the vines and land that once had fallen to ruin.
Daniel and Theoni’s vision is to offer wine of the finest quality while continuing to highlight the strength of the Cypriot grape varieties and tradition.