Limassol Wine Festival opens Friday

The 46th Wine Festival, held annually in the southern coastal town of Limmasol, the main winegrowing town of Cyprus, will officially be opened on Friday, August 24, by the Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment Photis Photiou.

The Wine Festival is hosted at the Limassol Municipal Park and includes a variety of cultural events, during which all visitors will have the opportunity to taste locally produced wine varieties.

Speaking during a press conference here on Tuesday, Limassol Mayor Andreas Christou said that thousands of people, locals and tourists, are expected to visit the Festival.

Christou said that this year’s programme of events is further enriched to include also performances by dance and music groups from overseas. Along with the local dance, music and theatre groups, the 46th Wine Festival marks the participation of a traditional dance group from Rethymno, from the Greek island of Crete, the male choir “Phaneromeni” from the island of Zakinthos and an acrobatic group from China.

A further addition to this year’s programme of events is the wine tasting, organised at the municipal open tennis court. Wine will be served with delicious Cyprus traditional dishes, prepared by members of Cyprus’ Chefs Association.

All the main wine producing firms of Limassol will participate and visitors will have the opportunity to taste the wine varieties they produce and make purchases.

Limassol Municipality for the first time in the long history of this special event will offer a bottle of wine to every visitor buying an entrance ticket.

Throughout the years, the Limassol Wine Festival has become a traditional feast, very popular among the local population as well as tourists. The Festival’s trade mark is a 7-metre statue of a man dressed in the Cypriot traditional costume, named “vraka” in Greek. Above the statue is written the motto “Drink wine to live long”.