DIONYSUS

PAMPAKAS WINE

(Maratheftiko)

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The Dionysus's special wine!

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Dionysus and Aphrodite,

from ancient Antiοch.

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Aphrodite (called Morfo in our region, the ancient kingdom of Soloi), the most beautiful goddess of ancient Greek mythology, was very erotic. She has been wife or lover of several gods. One of  them was Dionysus, the god of wine.

Aphrodite was born in Cyprus in Paphos seaside. In Paphos she was most worshiped, so she liked very much to visit Cyprus. (In our region were found two temples of Aphrodite) Once a time during one of her visits she met a very beautiful demigod boy, Adonis. Adonis served her a very nice Cyprus white wine, called Xinisteri. She was so exited that she became lover of Adonis!

Dionysus was informed about Aphrodite’s new lover and Xinisteri’s results!. He became very angry and zealous about it. Because of this he came in Cyprus and tried to find a better local wine. He failed, but one day he found in Troodos mountains a kind of grapes, called pampakas, which was not popular among the villagers because its thick skin. Dionysus observed that birds liked it very much. This pushed him to try to make wine from these grapes. The result was a black, tasty and flavoring wine, the best he had ever made. This was called "Pampakas wine"!

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Pampkas vine and grapes

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Full of happiness Dionysus took an amphora of pampakas wine and flied to found Aphrodite. He expressed her his still standing warm love and what he have made for her in Troodos mountains. Aphrodite tasted Pampakas wine and found it extraordinary, but told  to Dionysus that she prefer Adonis love than Pampakas taste!

Dionysus became so angry that he took amphora back to Troodos mountains. Here he found a place foul of trees which was surrounded by mountains peaks, like a big cave (spilia in Greek). In this place he drunk a lot of his special wine with nymphets of the nearby forest. Then he hid amphora with Pampakas wine in a dense myrtle and flied back to Greece.

Nymphets stole the jar, gave it to the neighboring villagers and told them the story of Dionysus. Since these times the villagers stayed in this place were they built Spilia village, planted Pampakas vines and are still making Pampakas wine!

This is why we named our Pampakas wine Dionysus!!

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