N.V. KEO Commanderie St. John

KEO, a large wine and beer company on Cyprus, owns Commanderie St. John, a sweet dessert wine label. Commanderie is made from the white indigenous grape xynisteri, and the wine is produced according to the solera system, a system of blending wines of different maturity levels to optimize the best qualities of the oldest and youngest wines in the blend. The system comes from Spain, where it has traditionally been used to make sherries. In making Commanderie St. John, grapes are allowed to become overripe and after harvest they are partly sun dried to increase sugar content. Commanderie is aged in oak for at least two years. Wine writer Hugh Johnson has written that “the most individual of Cyprus wines is the liquorous Commandaria…”