When I first visited New Zealand back in 2002, I developed an impression of those beautiful islands and their wine scene. That image became a template in my mind’s eye.

Close to the village of Pano Panayia in a mountainous part of the Paphos district of Cyprus lies the winery that claims to be the first private regional wine producer in Cyprus.

It had been on my mind for quite some time to visit Israel, to witness the wine scene there, and to see what the future might hold, so that when the Israeli Export & International Cooperation Institute constructed a visit for the Institute of Masters of Wine this last April, I jumped at the chance to get involved.

In the second part of his adventure in the Peloponnese, Demetri Walters MW looks beyond Agiorgitiko and Moschofilero discovering the virtues of other autochthonous varieties such as Mavrodaphne, Mavro Kalavrytino, Roditis and Malagousia.

I have long possessed a desire to visit the Peloponnese and to understand its wines better. This is the very heartland of ancient Mycenae and the greater part of the story of classical Greece.

Cyprus, the land of my mother, is experiencing a long-awaited renaissance in its wine industry. This is most marked in the quality of wine now being produced on the island, and vividly evidenced by the rising influence of autochthonous grape varieties.