George Tripatsas: The Revolution of Cypriot Wine

EPISODE 03 · WINE TALKS · ELIPACK PODCAST

George Tripatsas: The Revolution of Cypriot Wine

A conversation with George Tripatsas, Founder of Aes Ambelis Winery

About This Episode

Welcome to the third episode of Wine Talks, the Elipack Podcast series with the people shaping the Cypriot wine industry. This time we drive up to Kalo Chorio Orinis, in the Nicosia district with the mountains of Pitsilia on the horizon, to sit down with George Tripatsas, founder of Aes Ambelis Winery, in one of the most beautiful and minimal wineries on the island.

A finance graduate and former banker, George founded Aes Ambelis in 1992, at a time when Cypriot wine was struggling with its image. More than thirty years later, he is the man behind the revival of Morokanella, a forgotten indigenous grape, and one of the loudest voices for a modern Commandaria.

A conversation about branding, labels and bottles, lost grape varieties, exports and what success really means for a winery.

🏦 From Banking to the Vineyard

Wine was not in George's plans. He spent six years studying finance in the United States, and wine only appeared as one of the eight electives outside his major, next to astrophysics and philosophy: a course called Wine Making 101 at Cornell University. "I liked it, without ever imagining where it would take me. Maybe the spark came from there."

Back in Cyprus he worked for almost ten years in banking and finance, but he always wanted to build something of his own, something more creative and closer to nature and primary production. His research pointed to an unexpected place: a wine sector with serious problems. "Problematic sectors often create opportunities. We had a long history in wine, the right climate and the varieties, but something was missing."

The company was founded in 1992 and, about twenty years ago, moved to its current home in Kalo Chorio Orinis, one of the few wineries in the Nicosia district, with access to the mountain vineyards of Pitsilia and easy reach for visitors from the capital. Only years later did his grandmother tell him the family secret: his great-grandfather made wine in the village of Kambi tou Farmaka and sold it down in Deftera.

💶 More Than a Very Expensive Hobby

"It started as love, and a little as a very expensive hobby," George laughs. People see a glass of wine and imagine a relaxed life in the winery. "It is a wonderful product and we do enjoy it. But at the end of the day it is a business, a very demanding one, and it requires enormous capital compared to the size of its sales."

About fifteen years in, the winery reached a crossroads: stay small and slowly fade, or go professional. George chose the second road, giving far more of his time to the winery and investing properly. "It is easy to sell two or three thousand bottles. But an investment of around three million euros needs a completely different level of sales to survive."

And it takes time: "If you also create vineyards, you are talking about decades. You have to make your wines at the quality they need, build your brand and your distribution. There is a lot of work beyond the oenology."

🍇 Morokanella: Bringing Back a Lost Grape

For years the industry believed Cypriot varieties could not make great wine, and old vineyards were uprooted in favour of Cabernet and Shiraz. George went the other way: after years of work with Xynisteri and Maratheftiko, he went looking for forgotten indigenous grapes that could give Cyprus a new identity. The search led to Morokanella:

"I predict that in a few years Morokanella will come close to Xynisteri." Together with Promara, another indigenous variety the winery works with, George sees it as part of the future of Cypriot wine, because these grapes exist in no other country in the world.

📈 From Hesitation to Sold Out

The first year was hesitant, as people got to know a grape they had never heard of. Then, just after COVID, with a wave of enthusiasm to go out again and support Cypriot producers, came a huge boom. "I am still trying to understand how it happened." A comparison with the Greek Malagousia brought glowing reviews, and demand exploded.

"Nothing happens by chance. Nobody wakes up in the morning to someone knocking on the door asking for their wine. There was a huge effort in every area: the vineyard, the quality of the wine, packaging, branding and promotion."

🏛️ "We Should Be Making Only Commandaria"

"It sounds exaggerated. But look at the history of Commandaria: a unique wine, mentioned from the time of Hesiod to the Crusaders and until today, connected with our religion and our traditions, made in very small quantities. Logically we should be selling far more, and it should be the flag of Cypriot wine. We should be travelling abroad for exports with Commandaria in front, and everything else after it."

George still keeps the textbook from his Cornell course, written by a well-known professor from California, and it holds the moment that stayed with him:

1. About 400 pages on the wines of the world: around 200 on France, 100 on Italy, 50 on Spain.
2. Nothing on Cyprus, until a search in the index led to a single footnote in small print.
3. The footnote: an island in the Eastern Mediterranean that historically made wine, with an amazing wine called Commandaria, and modern wines described as dreadful.
4. The lesson: even then, Commandaria was the island's top reference, and perhaps its only one. "That was my first shock."

📦 Equipment & Partners: The Elipack Role

"Our relationship is a very friendly one. Elipack are among our first and most important partners, and we have always had a very good level of communication and cooperation." With Elipack's help, Aes Ambelis invested in the most modern winemaking equipment available today, and found the bottles that carry its Commandaria and Morokanella.

For George, the whole sector depends on relationships that last: good relations between wineries, close ties with the grape growers, "because without good raw material there is no chance of good wine," and with suppliers who can deliver the exact characteristics a winery needs, at the right cost.

🏆 What Success Really Means

Sales, awards, or a customer who comes back? "All three, but the last one is the most important. Everyone will taste a wine once, and there are many ways to promote it. You can even pay to get onto a restaurant's wine list. What matters is that people who taste it appreciate it and come back to it."

🍇 Visit Aes Ambelis Winery

Established in 1992 on the slopes of Kalo Chorio Orinis, about 28 km southwest of Nicosia, the winery is open all year round for visits and tastings.

📍 Kalo Chorio Orinis, Nicosia, Cyprus

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