President George Abela last week visited Marsovin's Marnisi Estate in Marsaxlokk to witness the last phase of grape harvesting for this season.

He was shown around by director Jeremy Cassar , who gave an explanation of the process from vines to wines, stressing in particular that Marsovin only uses locally grown grapes.

"The 2011 harvest is the fourth year that Marsovin is totally self sufficient with Maltese grapes. Marsovin no longer uses foreign grapes to produce their wine. Marsovin made an investment in local farmers many years ago, even though the price paid for Maltese grapes is more expensive than most foreign grapes. This shows the commitment by Marsovin towards producing a genuine Maltese product," Mr Cassar said.

He also pointed out how Marsovin contributes regularly to the arts and charities including the Community chest fund, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and Din L-Art Helwa. 

A company spokesman said Malta's climate is very favourable for the production of wine grapes making the vineyard management process less problematic than other countries that suffer from excessive rain, hail and snow during the maturation period of the grapes.

He said Marsovin is appealing to the Maltese to buy Maltese wine.

"The quality and prices of Maltese wines are very competitive when compared to the imported foreign wine, so much so that Marsovin's wines are appreciated in various export markets such as Japan, Hong Kong, France, Italy and China."

Marsovin presses 55% of all wine grapes from Malta and Gozo. All grapes grown by Marsovin or purchased from farmers are registered by the government authorities this and other measures which have been taken by the industry and government ensure that there is stringent control on the quality of Maltese wine produced today. This is thanks to the D.O.K protocol which the industry and government introduced in 2007.