Production was already very low last year "and it's going to be worse this year," said Lenin Yosif, managing director of Loel, one of the country's four largest wine companies.

Archaeological excavations have shown that fermentation of grape juice has been going on in Cyprus for 6,000 years, longer than anywhere else in the Mediterranean.

"The combination of an increase in temperature and a drop in rainfall is very bad," Yosif told AFP on the sidelines of the annual wine festival in Limassol on the south coast.

Growth this year is restricted "and the (grape) size remains very small, too small," he said.

In 2008, accentuating the trend of the past 20 years, rainfall in Cyprus has been 50 percent below average, and temperatures climbed to 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) and above from March, before easing off in mid-September.

Scorched by such conditions, output in 2008 is likely to plunge by 15 to 25 percent, according to Stavros Ioannides, head of the country's Wine Products Council.

Last year, the 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) of vines produced 191,000 hectolitres (five million gallons) of wine, down from 218,000 in 2006, WPC figures show.

-- The grapes are smaller with less juice and more sugar --

"Weather conditions for 2008 were not favourable as a result of a period of prolonged drought, especially in the months of February and March" which are vital for grape growth, Ioannides said.

"The grapes are smaller in size with less juice and more sugar content," a major worry for the Cyprus wine industry which mainly exports to Britain and is seeking to diversify its outlets and to take its wines upmarket, he said.

With this aim in mind, the council plans to unveil a five-year strategy soon.

To maintain the quality of his wine, George Tripatsas, a former banker who manages the AES Ambelis winery at Kalo Chorio in central Cyprus, has opted to install an irrigation system.

"The results are good," he said. "My worst worry is what's going to happen next year; with another year of drought it could damage the survival of the vines."

The estate sells 120,000 bottles a year from its headquarters on the arid lower slopes of the Troodos mountains.

The severe lack of moisture has even even hit the island's highest vines, perched as much as 1,500 metres (4,950 feet) above sea level, and the oldest local grape types, Ioannides said.

These varieties include the Mavro which is used for Commandaria, the only Cypriot wine with its own Appelation d'Origine Controlee label.

Tripatsas, trying to be optimistic, places great hope in another regional red grape, the Maratheftiko.

"The quality of Cyprus wine was very bad but during the last five years we improved it a lot. Maratheftiko is very promising, it's a local variety which is more adapted to local conditions. Colour is intense and bright, flavour is fine. It's a wine with a lot of personality," he said.

Even though the vines of southern Europe like heat and are resistant to tough conditions, "there are limits!" Yosif admitted.

Ioannides warned: "Global warming is another challenge because it does affect the industry and so far we haven't taken action against it on a national level. We have to think seriously about it -- and very soon."

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