An Honest Review Of Sterna Winery, Kathikas, Cyprus
Written by Jaillan Yehia
Sterna Winery, Cyprus
Warning: negative post!
If being given shot glasses of paint-stripper by a grumpy man then being yelled at and chased away for not buying bottles (of the worst wine you’ve ever tasted) is your idea of a wine tasting then do visit Sterna Winery.
If not, I recommend you try one of Cyprus’ many other boutique wineries instead.
I never write negative posts. I don’t want to share, dwell on or spend time plugging somewhere I went that totally sucked. If I’m taking the time and trouble to put a piece together for a website or magazine it’s usually because I loved it. That’s the stuff I like to share, and that’s just the happy, positive kind of girl I am.
But a recent experience at the Sterna Winery in Cyprus has pushed me to write only my second-ever negative post (the first was a place that kept my new-mum friend waiting for half an hour at our table having sent her friends away).
We’d spent a week in Cyprus on a constant mission to squeeze in some wine tasting. It was difficult because there’s so much to do in Cyprus so we kept finding ourselves short of time.
But as Cyprus is a burgeoning wine-tasting destination, we constantly drove past enticing wineries and were keen to give one of them a try – when the driver was happy to take a break and watch the rest of us drink.
Most of the 50 or so boutique wineries in the Krasohoria (wine villages) aren’t open all day every day so you can’t just show up like you can in Franschhoek, South Africa or other established wine-producing areas, you usually have to book, which caused more confusion.
The Vrede En Lust Vineyards South Africa – now that’s what I call a wine tasting location
The Cyprus tourist board does produce a super-helpful Wine Routes of Cyprus booklet which gives you the names and phone numbers of most of the wineries laid out as a series of driving tours,and for the most part further research suggested this booklet was sound: nearby restaurants recommendations were born out by the advice of local friends, and the guide books mentioned many of the same wineries.
Sterna Winery happened to be in the book and on a road we drove past often to get back to our villa and was open later than many others (most close between 3 and 5, Sterna is open until 6 every day). So as it was convenient for us to reach and meant the designated driver wasn’t forced to curtail his evening too much we decided to stop in. This was a mistake.
Sterna Winery ‘cellar’
At first glance it seemed like a small, fairly rustic winery, although my suspicions were aroused by the large amount of tourist souvenirs being sold outside of the natural remit of wine – and the high prices. The guy in charge had our party of six sit down at a table, and we noticed that all the other tables filled up with tourists too. So far so normal.
On the way in – little did we know what was in store
But the man running the winery (who I later discovered has a reputation locally) proceeded to give us small shot glasses of really dreadful wine, at high speed. Yelling his rehearsed comedy routine and the names of each wine at us, and demanding that we drink quickly so he could fill the shot glass with the next specimen: red, white, rose it all went in the same glass!
The atmosphere in the room became subdued, like that of a school classroom when an aggressive and unpleasant teacher is in charge – and I guess we were the ones sniggering at the back.
I then heard the couple at the next table discussing the fact that the policy was you MUST buy two bottles of wine, something which isn’t written anywhere or verbally stated at any time.
At this point our group decided to save ourselves, and as soon as someone (British of course, only Brits would buy bad wine out of politeness and the wish to avoid a scene) succumbed to the pressure and the owner popped off to get their plonk, we made a dash for the car.
But we were followed out to the car park. We had an exchange with the owner who demanded we all buy bottles of his wine. We offered to pay for the tasting but said we couldn’t buy bottles of wine if we wanted to as we couldn’t get them in our luggage. In the end we simply sped off, cursing the only bad experience we’d had in Cyprus.
Sloppy standards at Sterna Winery could be forgiven if they treated customers well
What’s sad is that people are afraid of doing wine tasting in case they are pressured to buy, but good wine and a good producer will make an impact on you and you’ll seek out the wine at home or buy online even if you can’t buy there and then.
Where to go instead?
The winery that does have an excellent reputation in Cyprus is the stylish and modern Dafermou Winery located between Limassol and Larnaca. My advice would be to try this for a real taste of Cypriot wine.
Have you been to Sterna Winery, or were you planning on going before seeing this review? Do you think wine tastings should come with a commitment to buy wine, no matter how bad it tastes?
Tags: Cyprus, Kathikas, Paphos, Sterna Winery, wine, wine tasting
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Will Gillham
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Went today, was perfectly nice. Bought a couple of really nice bottles following a speedy but calm and knowledgable session with one of the sons. What a pity a 9 year old review is one of the first things that comes up for this Winery. Perhaps it’s worth a second visit and an up to date review. Yes the museum is odd, and a weird use of space.
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Paul Downs
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We’ve just come back from pafos August 2015 and visited Sterna while we were there.
To be honest we weren’t pressured to buy wine (even though we did) and it wasn’t a bad experience.
As others have said the museum isn’t up to much.
However the owner was quite friendly, placing bread, oil and olives on the table together with a free fruit drink for our two children.
We tried all of the wines, most of which were not good.
Eventually we settled on a bottle of 10 yr old red 1.5ltr €30 and a 75cl €10 white.
Together with some sterna olive oil.
The kids bought some overpriced tourist items and the total bill came to over €80 the owner didn’t seem overly happy and asked if we wanted any more of the wines on the list, we declined and he walked off unimpressed.
Like I said earlier we didn’t have a bad experience but I wish we’d done our homework and checked reviews first.
Happy travels.
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Lauren
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We visited this winery a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. We weren’t forced to buy any wine. We were given interesting information about each of the wines which actually tasted REALLY good.
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Jaillan Yehia
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Hi Lauren, Thanks for your comment, I’m glad you enjoyed your wine and wonder if perhaps as has been suggested by others Sterna has cleaned up its act which would be great news. I’d be really interested to hear if anyone else has since had a positive experience too.
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Reading with Ric
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I went in April 2022. Lovely experience, nicely stocked shop, professional tasting service for just €5. I bought 14 bottles. Highly recommend the rosé!
The negative review above is years out of date.
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SweatySock
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Yes the owner is a bit of a snake oil salesman, the wines are awful and it is a perfect example of how NOT to run a winery. That said their are many good small independent wineries in the Paphos region, so just avoid this one !
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Jaillan Yehia
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I think snake oil salesman is the perfect description for my experience!
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Roger Thecabinboy
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We visited Sterna a few weeks back. Yes the Museum is a joke, and they obviously buy in grapes rather then grow their own. The cheapest Red and White were a bit on the rough side, (to be polite) but the wife found the middle range Red and white quite acceptable, and we took a bottle each of them, with no pressure to buy.
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ElenaST
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Another useful tool is Wineries Cyprus – http://wineriescyprus.com – a map/list of all island’s wineries. Each winery has a map, contact, links, reviews and ratings. It comes handy when starting to plan a wine tour on Cyprus.
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neilo
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hi, we also got the hand shake pointed towards the wine cellar lol, it was then i saw another door just before you bend down to enter the cellar leading outside, i said then we should make a dash for it but was told by the missus to give it time so we stayed, i could not believe the museum or the 2 cows an a donkey lol and the varanda with tables an chairs…………. what were they for? lol. i said this is a joke but a funny joke, all his wines are made by machine over in those buildings you can see in the back ground and cost the same to make so why all the expensive prices for musty wine, and the red he kept in the fridge………… thought that was a no-no, not to mention the bits in the wine as well lol and all his selling pitch! lol, i could not stop laughing, best laugh i had all day. an yes we did but some bottles…………. not sure if it was his ” sexy wine” good for newlyweds lol. i could not believe the next english couple that came in wer enjoying the wine………….. im sure they were taking the P, kept saying we will have a few cases but looked very serious about it lol lol lol .
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Wine Cyprus
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Good advice and for such a nice region, Sterna and it’s wine museum could make good use of this advice to shape up. As it is Kathikas, the region by itself should serve as an inspiration. As pointed out by @smngdfry:disqus, the wines for Vasilikon are a not to miss around the bend from Sterna. You’ll find them here on foursquare http://4sq.com/x3SKNK
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Jaillan Yehia
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Thanks for your comment – yes I agree the region is really nice and we had some great food and wine, just not at Sterna!
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phillyGEE
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Hi Jai: Great Article, The information was appreciated. Were you able to visit the darfermou Winery in Lefkara hills most recently ? I’m planning on having a wedding there for a family member soon and was wondering about the parking facilities at this winery? Can you get back to me on my facebook page ? phillyGee Thanks
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savoirthere
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Hi – I’m glad the review was useful for you. I didn’t visit the Darfermou winery but a good friend and colleague who is a fellow journalist did visit very recently to write about it and spoke very highly of it which is why I single it out here. On their parking facilities I’m afraid you’ll have to check with them as I wouldn’t know. Thanks!
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smngdfry
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Yes. I was not at all impressed with the Sterna Winery or its wines. Do they actually make any wine there?
But I am very impressed with the white wine from nearby Vasilikon in Kathikas, No tasting or tour, but they will sell you a case of a dozen at a very fair price (about 3.50 euros a bottle from memory) and they give you another bottle of red for free.
Make a point of buying a case on our way from the airport to our rented apartment twice a year, and have never regretted it..
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savoirthere
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Thanks for your comment – I wanted to try Vasilikon but it was closed when we tried to visit but I’ll definitely try it after your recommendation. There are lots of great wineries so I think it’s useful for people to know that Sterna isn’t a good option!
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Jaillan Yehia
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Thanks so much for your comment – and for
recommending a good alternative, I’ve also heard that Vasilikon is worth
a try, so thanks for seconding that opinion, and of course for taking the time
to read my post!
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