Cyprus · Other producers

Makarounas Winery

A Letymbou family estate making native Cypriot grapes into saline, dry whites and fresh, structured reds.

The producer

Makarounas Winery stands in Letymbou, 14 kilometres east of Pafos in the Troodos foothills. Theodoros Makarounas began bottling in 2016, building on four generations of family grape growing and fruit from privately owned vineyards at 400–600 metres. Spourtiko and Xynisteri make the white range; Maratheftiko and Yiannoudi bring cherry, plum, spice, acidity and tannin to the reds.

The cellar keeps grape character in view: indigenous yeasts, stainless steel, amphora and cement are used across the range. Spourtiko is gently pressed, fermented spontaneously in stainless steel and aged on fine lees for about seven months, producing a lean, bone-dry white with grapefruit, wet stone, salinity and green-almond bitterness. Aerides Xynisteri moves toward stone fruit and tropical fruit, while Mosfiles Maratheftiko brings dark plum and red fruit to a fresh, spicy palate.

Known for

Native Cypriot varieties from privately owned Pafos-area vineyards, especially dry Spourtiko and Xynisteri whites.

Notable facts

The story

From family fruit to family bottles

When Theodoros Makarounas returned to Cyprus in 2016 after studying enology at UC Davis, his family already had four generations of grape growing behind it. The usual arrangement had been to supply grapes to larger Cypriot wineries. He started Makarounas Vineyards and kept the fruit from the family’s Letymbou vineyards for wines made under its own name. Privately owned plots that had previously sent grapes elsewhere could now be handled in the cellar as distinct wines: Spourtiko could ferment in stainless steel and rest on lees, Aerides could show Xynisteri’s fruit, and Maratheftiko from Mosfiles could appear as a vineyard-named red.

From family fruit to family bottles

When Theodoros Makarounas returned to Cyprus in 2016 after studying enology at UC Davis, his family already had four generations of grape growing behind it. The usual arrangement had been to supply grapes to larger Cypriot wineries. He started Makarounas Vineyards and kept the fruit from the family’s Letymbou vineyards for wines made under its own name. Privately owned plots that had previously sent grapes elsewhere could now be handled in the cellar as distinct wines: Spourtiko could ferment in stainless steel and rest on lees, Aerides could show Xynisteri’s fruit, and Maratheftiko from Mosfiles could appear as a vineyard-named red.

From the atlas

Makarounas Winery

At A Glance

Makarounas Winery is a family estate in Letymbou, 14 kilometres east of Pafos, in the foothills of the Troodos Mountains. Theodoros Makarounas began bottling under the family name in 2016, drawing on four generations of grape growing and fruit from privately owned vineyards. Its bottles centre on native Cypriot varieties: dry whites from Spourtiko and Xynisteri, then fresh, structured reds from Maratheftiko and Yiannoudi.

The Producer

The Makarounas family had long supplied grapes to other Cypriot wineries before Theodoros returned to Cyprus with an enology degree from UC Davis. His 2016 project kept the family’s fruit in-house, so the grape-growing work and the cellar decisions now meet under the Makarounas label. Wine Anorak describes the operation as Cyprus’s only fully estate-model winery; the result is a range tied to vineyards the family owns rather than purchased fruit.

Place

Letymbou lies in the Pafos area, east of the city and in the Troodos foothills. The winery reports vineyard elevations of 400 to 600 metres, where height brings cooler conditions than the coast within a warm Mediterranean climate. That setting helps retain acidity in grapes that ripen under Cypriot sun, a relationship visible in the reported low-pH wines and in the dry, saline profile of Spourtiko.

No formal Cypriot appellation or protected geographical indication has been verified for the wines. The useful place name is therefore Letymbou and the Pafos-area foothills: a vineyard location, not a borrowed hierarchy on the label.

Soil And Site

Across the estate, crystalline gypsum, limestone and quartz sit beneath ungrafted vines, including some centenarian material. These are not interchangeable plots: Mosfiles, the source of a single-vineyard Maratheftiko, combines clay-rich and sandy ground with limestone on a slope. Its 2023 wine showed dark plum and red fruit with spice, but also freshness, linking a warm-growing site to a red that carries fruit without a heavy finish.

The winery reports average annual rainfall of 620 millimetres. In this warm climate, the elevated sites, old vine material and varied ground supply the raw material for whites with citrus and mineral character and reds with acidity alongside tannin.

Story

Makarounas began as a change in what happened after harvest. For four generations the family grew vines, traditionally selling the grapes to larger wineries. In 2016, Theodoros Makarounas returned to Cyprus and started an estate winery instead. The family’s 28 hectares could then be farmed with bottling in mind: Spourtiko could stay on its fine lees in tank, and Mosfiles Maratheftiko could appear as a vineyard-named red rather than disappear into another producer’s blend.

Vineyards And Cellar

The winery works almost entirely with native varieties and reports organic farming, though the available material does not support calling all 28 hectares organic. Ungrafted and older vines bring naturally limited, concentrated fruit; indigenous yeasts, stainless steel, amphora and cement provide several ways to handle it without imposing one uniform cellar flavour.

Spourtiko shows the clearest method-to-glass link. The 100% varietal wine is gently pressed, fermented spontaneously in stainless steel and kept on fine lees for about seven months. Stainless steel preserves grapefruit and wet-stone notes, while lees contact adds texture to its lean body; the finish remains bone-dry and salty rather than creamy or oak-led. Across the range, Wine Anorak reports very low pH, around 2.9 to 3.1, which fits the firm acidity heard in the tasting notes.

Wines

The white range has two distinct native-grape routes. Spourtiko is the taut, dry line: mineral fruit, citrus, saline lift and fine-lees texture. Aerides is 100% Xynisteri and moves toward a broader aromatic register, with stone fruit, mango, pineapple and passion fruit alongside herbs and mineral notes. Both remain white wines built around acidity, but one leans toward grapefruit and almond-skin bitterness while the other opens with tropical and orchard fruit.

The reds turn to Maratheftiko and Yiannoudi. Mosfiles Maratheftiko is a single-vineyard expression with plum, red fruit and spice over a plush but fresh palate. Yiannoudi 2021 brings cherry, almond and raspberry, with good acidity and structural grip. Together, they show native red varieties capable of fruit depth without losing shape: tannin holds the red-fruit flavours in place, while acidity keeps the finish moving.

Promara, Vasilissa and Giannoudi also belong to the winery’s native-variety work, although this material does not document detailed tasting notes for every bottle.

In The Glass

Start with the whites’ contrast. Spourtiko carries wet stone and grapefruit on the nose, then feels lean and bright across the palate. Fine lees soften the edges with a little texture, but the wine closes dry, mineral and saline, with green-almond bitterness at the end. Aerides Xynisteri is more openly aromatic: stone fruit, mango, pineapple and passion fruit arrive first, then herbs and mineral notes pull the finish back toward the vineyard.

The reds bring another register. Mosfiles Maratheftiko combines dark plum and red fruit with spice; its layered palate has weight, yet freshness prevents the fruit from becoming dense. Yiannoudi’s cherry, almond and raspberry notes sit over good acidity and tannin, making it the more angular red expression in the documented range.

A Bottle To Understand It

Choose Spourtiko. It is a 100% Spourtiko white made with gentle pressing, spontaneous stainless-steel fermentation and about seven months on fine lees. The bottle carries the estate’s core choices into one glass: native fruit, a low-pH acidic line, no oak flavour and lees-derived texture. Expect wet stone, grapefruit, mineral fruit and salinity, with a lean body and a vivid, bone-dry finish marked by green-almond bitterness.

Anecdote

When Theodoros Makarounas returned to Cyprus in 2016 after studying enology at UC Davis, his family already had four generations of grape-growing behind it. Their usual role had been to supply fruit to larger Cypriot wineries. Theodoros took the family vineyards in Letymbou in another direction: he started Makarounas Vineyards and retained the grapes for wines made under the family name. The physical change was immediate in the range that followed—privately owned plots could be bottled as Spourtiko, Aerides Xynisteri and single-vineyard Maratheftiko instead of leaving the estate as fruit.

Final Word

Makarounas is worth seeking out for native Cypriot grapes handled as distinct wines rather than anonymous components. Begin with the saline, dry Spourtiko; then move to Aerides for Xynisteri’s aromatic fruit or Mosfiles Maratheftiko for plum, spice and fresh tannin.

Sources

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