Camilleri Wines had a successful launch of the Laurenti Red at the Heat bistro situated at the Valletta Waterfront on July 13.

The atmosphere and setting were ideal for the launch of a red wine, and the event was professionally accompanied by the Dominic Galea jazz trio.

Minister for Rural Affairs and the Environment, George Pullicino, addressed the launch.

The grapes of Laurenti Red wine were picked in 2003 and are a mixture of merlot and cabernet sauvignon grapes. The cork used is 100 per cent natural and three times more expensive than that used for the Palatino wines.

Camilleri Wines recommend four to five years for aging and attention to storage conditions. Stored bottles should ideally be kept at 19°C to 20°C in a horizontal position so that the cork is soaked with wine, which prevents air from entering the bottle, which results in corked wine.

Laurenti red is best served at a temperature of 16°C to 18°C.

Camilleri Wines has been established as an entity of its own since Master Wines, the winemakers of the Palatino range, decided to work on producing premium wines five years ago.

Camilleri Wines general manager Louie Camilleri met Italian oenologist Vincenzo Bambina at his vineyard in Sicily, which produces 20,000 bottles a year, and where Camilleri learnt more about the making of top quality wines. Bambina visits the Camilleri winery every month to supervise.

Camilleri Wines started off with 52 tumoli of vineyards spread over Malta and today have a total of 1,000 tumoli, including 400 in Siggiewi and Zebbug, and 250 in Gozo. The wine producers own half a million vines and have 200 contractors that grow their grapes.

Head of marketing and sales, Claudio Camilleri, said Camilleri Wines has a 10-year contract with vine growers, who supply all necessary materials and grow the grapes to the specifications set out for them by Camilleri Wines.

Claudio also stressed the advantages of having locally grown grapes as against imported ones. Foreign grapes can never be your own, especially in the way they are grown. It is true that Maltese wine producers visit the vineyards abroad from where they are getting their grapes.

However, Maltese farmers will grow the grapes with special care, knowing that they will result in purely Maltese wine. There is also more control on Maltese production where the maximum area that Camilleri wines contract is 10 tumoli. Camilleri Wines choose their contractors according to the size of their vineyards. Their viticulturist, Patrick Scerri, is on call 24 hours a day. He played a significant role in the selection of contractors, ensuring that the soil in which the vines are grown is up to standard and choosing the soil according to the type of grape it yields.

Camilleri Wines chooses calcareous soil, which contains limestone and clay, and proves very fertile, especially in humid conditions. This type of soil is typical of the Siggiewi region, on a par with Bordeaux soil, and suitable for the production of premium wines.

A good lesson learnt from his trip to Sicily was that it is better to have less quantity that will produce a superior quality of wine than to have high production that will produce table wine.

That is what enabled the shift from table wine production to premium wine production. The difference in production between premium and low quality wines is the way the grapes are grown and processed. The amount of time the wine is left to ferment, and the way the wine is stored and aged also makes a difference.

Louie Camilleri told The Sunday Times: "All our premium wines are aged in oak barriques, while the Palatino wines are stored in stainless steel vats...

"Premium acquires its special qualities from the way the grapes are taken care of. One of the methods involves the growth of vines in a way to produce 1.8 kilos of grapes as against 2.5 to 3 kilos for substandard quality wine." A special type of yeast is used, and this determines how the grapes ferment due to the particular chemical reaction between the yeast and the grapes.

Louie Camilleri explained the importance of the soil type to produce a quality wine; but the rootstock is just as important. "The higher up in altitude the soil is, the better the grape since rain water seeps down to the bottom of the lowest parts of the earth, which hinders the grape from producing enough sugar that is necessary for fermentation".

Every bottle containing premium wine requires around 1.5 kg of grapes.

Camilleri Wines are very satisfied with their new wine that has now perfectly complemented the Laurenti White, launched last November. Claudio Camilleri said: "One major achievement is that we have now successfully formed a set of local wines (white and red) that can compete well with foreign wines" and the foreigners who have tasted their wines have been very impressed with the local produce.

The aim of these wine producers is to supply good quality Maltese wine to the local market, while striving to get their products equally appreciated by foreigners. "It is important that visitors to Malta come across Maltese wine of high standard," concluded Mr Camilleri.