Before we embark on a company by company analyses features of Wines of Malta as well of Gozo, planned for this website, it is pertinent to know something of what actually is involved in the evolution of a good wine, in what concerns aspects of terroir and climate, both of which no human being has any control upon. We can make excellent wines in the cellar when the grapes are delivered, but from one harvest to the next, there is always an interval of twelve months, during which nature decides what it wants to give you.
It can give winemakers an exceptional vintage and then again it cause havoc. Climate coupled with terroir are paramount to the creation of either an exceptional or a well below average wine.
We have to bear in mind, that a good wine is born in the vineyard, through the terroir of the region -a good location and soil, knowledgeable and modern viticulture practices, and climatic conditions viz: Macro, Meso and Micro - climates.
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| World regions having a Mediterranean Climate marked in red. |
The Mediterranean Climate is the climate of most countries in the Mediterranean basin and is a particular variety of subtropical climates.
The European countries including parts of Spain, Southern France, Corsica, Sicily, the Baltic Coast including Croatia and Serbia, Greece, Western Turkey, Cyprus, Crete and Malta, in Europe; and Lebanon, Palestine, Izrael, Tunisia, and the Northern Coast of Algeria and Morocco in North Africa have a typical Mediterranean Climate. But this is not all: New World producing countries such as -Central and Southern California in the United States of Amereica, coastal western Australia and South Australia, western coast of Chile, and the Cape Town region of South Africa all have a Mediterranean type climate.
It is also pertinent to note here that countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, as well as other regions where they have mountainous terrains, especially those at high altitudes will have much cooler temperatures that the rest of the regions in their own country, therefore their overall climatic conditions will be much different.
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| Sunshine, Temperature and Rainfall Averages in Malta in a typical year. |
The Mediterranean Climate is characterized by warm to hot, dry summers and mild to cool, wet winters. In the Old World regions of the Mediterranean Basin, which are governed by this subtropical climate, olive trees and vines grow indegeniously and thrive. Nature has endowed every country within these regions with an indegenious vegetation, trees and agricultural produce, which although similar in genre (e.g. vast number of grape varieties different from country to country, region to region), can be turned through human intevention to something entirely different, as is the case with the transformation of grapes into wine.
New World wine producing countries mentioned above never had their own indegenous grape varieties, but due to the Medeterranean type climatic conditions vast vineyards which were planted with American rootstock and cloned from the very best French varietals, have thrived to become exceptionally good wine producers.
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| Vermentino of Malta vendemia 2011 |
This does not mean that wine produced in these countries, just because they all have the Mediterranean Climate in common, is the same, with the same aromas, tastes and flavours. This is far from being a fact, as there are other vast differences and factors, country by country, and region by region, associated with the specific terroir which completes the whole picture of the jigsaw once it is assembled. In Malta soils are mainly limestone, sand and clay, normally shallow ranging in depth from as low as 20cm to about 60cm, spread on a natural limestone base which drains all excess water easily. The Maltese Islands are also subjected to long, dry, and hot summers. Warm maybe showery Autumns with a rain deficit. Short, cool winters with just enough rainfall, (which falls in heavy showers), for agriculture in most years, but leaving insufficient reserve water or moisture in the soil to combat the warm, drying Spring seasons, once again creating a rainfall defict.This calls for highly specialised viticultural and agricultural expertise, and an ingrained knowledge and passion to cultivate vines that yield grape varieties that would eventually produce that sought after, highly structured, complex, full-bodied wine, harmonious and well balanced with the exact embodiment of alcohol. acidity, tannins (in the case of red wines), crispiness (in the case of white wines), with exquisite and typical, full fruit flavours, that would make consumers look for the next glass.
Malta's recorded wine making history goes back to some 500BC with punic wine making basins and presses honed in the rock found in Gozo, and other places in Malta. The Indegenious grape varieties of Malta are the Girgentina for white wine and the Gellewza for red wine. But during the last ten or so years, with the advent of Malta becoming a full-member state of the EU, new regulations to conform with EU requirements and to add the cherry on the cake massive EU and Government aid and subsidies to the wine industry, winemakers in Malta turned professional. New vineyards were planted with the best American rootstock and cloned with the best International grape varietals obtained from France and Italy. New and up-to-date viticulture techniques were adopted, applying in practice the believe that good wine is born in the vineyard. Vast millions of Euros were also spent on updating the wineries and in some cases building new ones with state-of-the-art technology and modern equipment. Professional Oenology, education and qualifications were born. The future bodes well for this industry, but this can only be achieved if winemakers keep striving for quality as against quantity, prune their vines to give a low yield of highly concentrated grape varieties, invest in new oak barriques as necessary and adopt professional oenology science to produce better and better styles of wines with our unique Mediterranean flavour and typicity.
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| Syrah harvest of Gozo 2011, |
Apart from our indegenous grape varieties of Girgentina and Gellewza the following grape varieties have bee experimented with and are being grown and harvested for wine making in Malta and Gozo:
Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Vermentino, Viogner, Pinot Blanc, and Moscato for white wine; and
Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, Grenache, Carignan, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc for red wine. Limited amount of
Tempranillo and Sangiovese have also been cloned.
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| Malta Cabernet Sauvignon harvest 2011 |
It has been said that some 12 million bottles of (local and foreign) wine are consumed in Malta every year. But if one takes into account that the population of Malta is some 410,000 persons, and that maybe an estimated 200,000 adults buy wine; and that the tourist intake is about 1.3 million yearly and that an estimated 400,000 of these buy wine whilst on the Island/s, then the per capita consumption of wine in Malta amounts to just 20 bottles per person per year, divided into 13 bottles foreign wine and 7 bottles local wine. This figures gives a monthly consumption of just 1.7 bottles of wine, which leaves the market wide open for expansion with higher quality products. The locals as well as visitors are becoming more discerning, more quality conscious, and more demanding. This is a very good thing which inspires winemakers to strive for better quality in the finished product to finally clear the myth that foreign is better, which as a matter of fact, in most cases it is not.
There is still a lot that can be done but we are getting there.
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| State of the Art Equipment |
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| 500 BC Punic wine press Gozo. |
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| Stainless Steel fermentation and maturing tanks. |
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