Marsovin unveils milestone premium indigenous wine

Marsovin has just unveiled Malta’s first ever premium Imqadded ta’ Malta wine, Primus, a brand the Marsa winery hopes will grow into another flagship.

The wine, produced from indigenous Ġellewża and shiraz grapes, is the fruit of a wine-making process similar to that of an Amarone Della Valpolicella, although the grapes are sun-dried after harvest rather than cold-dried.

It was a “very good bottle” of Amarone that inspired Marsovin’s latest labour of love that involved an investment of €30,000.

“It all started when my father and I sat down to dinner with a very good bottle of Amarone about five years ago,” Marsovin director Jeremy Cassar told The Times Business. “We both thought it was high time we produced a wine in a similar style.”

Primus was launched a few days ago at two events for clients and a select list of wine lovers at the Marsovin cellars. Mr Cassar said the wine was very well received after a fair amount of anticipation. Most of the guests bought bottles of the full-bodied red to take home afterwards and the feedback was “very encouraging”.

Just 1,700 bottles were produced from 3,700 kilos of grapes at the end of a labour-intensive process. The grapes were hand-picked just as they reached full ripeness in September and were then left untouched in grape crates to sun-dry on the winery. The natural dehydration adds to the concentration of aromas, sugars and acids and the sun-drying period is relatively short – about two to three weeks – thanks to the season’s high temperatures. The shiraz generally dries faster.

Mr Cassar said Primus is primarily intended for the Maltese market but the wine will be promoted overseas, mainly in Hong Kong and Japan.

Launching the wine, Mr Cassar explained the concept – producing a premium wine with Ġellewża – sought to raise the standards of the indigenous variety.

“All wine-making countries in the world – with the exception of Malta – have a very strong local market due to the pride in their wine,” Mr Cassar explained. “You will find this in countries like Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Italy, Spain and Lebanon. It stems from national pride and the investment made over the years in their local wine production.

“The Ġellewża grape variety belongs to Malta, like Nero D’Avola belongs to Sicily. We need to invest in our own indigenous varieties to upgrade the quality of the wine so that consumers can enjoy more Maltese wines made from these varieties. Marsovin has taken several steps over the years to this end, by using more and high quality Ġellewża and Girgentina grapes in several new wines. Primus is in a class of its own because of its style and production method.”

The classification in the DOK protocol for Primus is ‘Imqadded Ta’ Malta’, which may be used exclusively for wines which are entirely obtained from grapes which have undergone a drying process, in whole or in part.

Mr Cassar maintained the classification was Primus’ unique selling point as well as Ġellewża, the main grape variety which is used to produce it. Marketed as a boutique wine, it will not be advertised and the vintage will be sold in a short period in a subtle campaign targeting the right consumers by recommendation or word of mouth. Marsovin will also be using its own database of clientele of other top end wines like Cassar de Malte, Guze and Grand Maitre.

Mr Cassar said some Maltese consumers appreciated the lengths a winery such as Marsovin went to to reach such milestones, but there were others who were unaware of how much work and commitment was involved. Still, premium wines were enjoyed by Maltese and foreign consumers and there was considerable potential now that the market offered a healthy choice of quality Maltese wines at reasonable prices.

The Maltese wine market, Mr Cassar pointed out, was improving slowly now that the worst of the post-EU accession dip, caused by a flood of foreign wines, was over.

“We have seen an improvement so far in 2011 and if things go well for us this year, it should encourage us for the future,” Mr Cassar added. “We are working to win the hearts of more Maltese consumers. I am absolutely convinced that the large majority of Maltese wines today are produced well and priced well too. All that we have to fight now is the stigma that some consumers have about drinking foreign just because it is foreign. It will take time and investment on our part and that of authorities, but I am optimistic.”