Grape growers attend tutorials

Tutorials which were attended by hundreds of Delicata grape growers were held last month at Delicata's new state of the art fermentation hall on the Paola waterfront and at The Malta University (Gozo Branch).

Over 350 growers attended both meetings which were chaired by Dr Edric Bonello, Head of Winemaking & Viticulture. Dr Bonello explained to Delicata's contract growers the importance of the effective use of pesticides in the vineyards and the consequences when not used correctly.

He went on to explain to the vignerons that with Delicata's wines now being shipped to over 16 different countries worldwide together with the new D.O.K. protocols that must be observed, it is becoming even more important that work in the vineyard and the resulting fruit is in peak condition so that it arrives at the Delicata winery in perfect condition.

Delicata viticulturist, Dione Caruana also delivered a talk giving very practical explanations on how farmers need to work effectively in quality focused vineyards whilst meeting requirements set in the EU legislation which controls the use of pesticides.

Representatives from the Malta Standards Authority (MSA) Ms Shirley Mifsud and Ms Joanne Galea were also invited along to the evenings and gave a presentation regarding the legal notice relating to the subject, rules and regulations for both the growers and the winemakers. They also spoke about the consequences of non compliance and the role of the Malta Standard's Authority. They went on to say how the MSA were very pleased with this Delicata initiative and praised the way that Delicata had reacted to the newly introduced legislation, only days after it was announced to the fruit and vegetable growing industry.

SLOVAK TOKAJ RETURNS.

According to a news article in The Slovak Spectator compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská

wine-makers from southeastern Slovakia are to be allowed to use the name "Tokaj" again, an issue that has long been subject to a dispute with neighbouring Hungary.

On April 27, members of parliament supported the cabinet's draft amendment to the Act on Viniculture proposed by the Agriculture Ministry in a fast-tracked legislative procedure and providing the president signs it, the amended bill will take effect on June 1st. The amendment means that Slovakia will adopt the European format for labelling wines, which means it will stop dividing wines into categories of table wine and vintage wine, the SITA newswire wrote. The new categorisation emphasises geographical labelling. Slovak wine regions will be divided into the following areas: Malokarpatská (Small Carpathians region), Južnoslovenská (southern Slovak), Stredoslovenská (central Slovak), Nitrianska (Nitra), Východoslovenská (eastern Slovak) and Tokaj.

The present dispute arose in 2009 after Hungary, despite an agreement that every change in legislation affecting the shared wine region would first be consulted with the other country, unexpectedly changed the agreed-upon term Tokaji to Tokaj in its legislation. Hungary also asked the European Commission for registration of Tokaj as a protected designation of origin.

On December 1, 2009, the commission published Hungary's proposal in the EU Journal. Slovakia had previously asked to register the term Tokaj, but the request had been rejected by the European Commission. The publication of the Hungarian proposal in the journal triggered a two-month time-limit within which Slovakia was permitted to comment on the application.

The Slovak Agriculture Ministry sent a letter to European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Mariann Fischer Boel, whom it asked for help in resolving "the never-ending story of the Tokaj area", as the case was dubbed by Agriculture Minister Vladimír Chovan. State Secretary of the Agriculture Ministry Ján Slabý negotiated on the matter with Brussels and it was finally agreed that the labelling "Tokaj wine area" would be registered for Slovakia.