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ZIVANIA

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The traditional strong alcoholic drink of Cyprus

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Zivania, 500ml, 54%vol, "Spilia Winery"

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In our village, Spilia, we collect the grapes  on October, because of its high altitude (1000m). Then we crash them with special machines. We remove most of the stalks and allow the mixture to ferment for 15 days.  So glucose is converted into alcohol, which dissolved the color and flavors of the grapes. From the rich mixture formed, enough liquid is filtered to get the wine. The residuals are led in the cauldron for distillation. So we get zivania (ethyl alcohol).

Zistilling "zivania" in Spilia Winery

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The Cyprus factories produce zivania which contains 45% vol. In Spilia we prefer 54% vol, because of our very cold winter. Our zivania is also more aromatic because our grapes contain extreme flovors, due to the low temperatures.

The zivania of “Spilia Winery”, despite its high concentration in alcohol, is soft because we crash grapes immetiately after harvest. It is more aromatic  too, because our grapes are biological!