North Cyprus investor set to enter the wine market

Cypriot businessman Mete Boyacı has invested in a wine production facility in an effort to enable North Cyprus to produce its own wine.

Boyacı, who is a partner in the Levent Group, has reportedly shown a recent special interest in wine production and has established a production facility in Haspolat.

Until now, little has been done to encourage investment in viticulture in the region and this offers up an opportunity, according to Boyacı. For instance, by comparison, there are dozens of wine-producing facilities in the south of the island, allegedly supported by EU finance.

Over three million dollars of wine, mainly from Turkey, Italy and France, was imported into North Cyprus last year, according to North Cyprus News. But, despite this, Cypriots are being stalled from opening up winemaking facilities in the north.

Boyacı explained that the reasons for TFWA bureaucracy is hindering the opening of the winemaking facility.

Boyacı said; “We are opening the doors of the production facility, even though it has not been officially activated yet” revealing that this is “because there are some bureaucratic problems. They said that we can establish a wedding or entertainment facility here, but we cannot establish a production facility. It’s all our own land, we didn’t buy it from the state.”

Boyacı added: “We are trying to overcome the bureaucracy problem. We have made a serious investment. We believe in production. People without bonds, we guarantee purchase. We are also working on a cooperative-like formation with a group of friends. We encourage our people to plant vineyards by visiting the villages. We are serious and ready to give a purchase guarantee. Let anyone come, produce their own brand here or sell their product to us, let us produce wine”.

According to Boyacı, under his own brand Loch Manor, he can produce all types of red, white and rose wines including: Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Öküzgözü, Kalecik Karası, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah.

He has invested €1.65 million in the facility at Haspolat and revealed that the facility is capable of producing 110 tonnes of wine annually. Plus, the vineyard, which covers 150 acres, he still intends to develop and expand further.

Boyacı asked: “Why should we spend millions of dollars to bring wine from abroad? We can produce it ourselves. We can create income for many of our people. We have the necessary potential for this, as long as we break the mould, trust ourselves, work, produce and market”.