Lovers of Sauvignon Blanc will be pleased to know that this week Delicata is bottling its two Sauvignon Blanc wines, Gran Cavalier and Medina, from the 2011 vintage.

These two popular dry white wines have been out of stock since September as due to over demand for the previous 2010 vintage, they were sold out within months of their release last year. Besides, Delicata has bought more of the grape variety so it will have larger quantities than ever before. There should also be more Sauvignon Blanc 2012 vintage grapes as a result of this year’s regrafting exercise which saw white grape varieties regrafted onto surplus reds last June.

Thanks to this regrafting project, the vines have flourished and the company has achieved an above 98 per cent success rate with its regrafted Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Moscato grape varieties.

The contracted vignerons gave an excellent after-care service under the close supervision of the company’s viticultural team.

This project was instigated due to significant changes in the wine market that has taken place over the last decade.

Many of the Maltese winemakers had found themselves in a position whereby there were too many red grapes being grown in Malta and Gozo and not enough whites.

To replant more white vines would not only have meant waiting four years for grapes, at a significant extra cost to the farmer, but it wouldn’t have solved the problem the farmers had of how to sell their surplus reds; whereas with regrafting, if done properly, only one year’s production should be lost.

The shortfall of Sauvignon Blanc Delicata wines is, of course, frustrating, not only for the winemaker, but also for their clients and consumers.

While some of it is due to a limited supply of Sauvignon Blanc grapes which is now being addressed, the problem is compounded by the restrictive legislation for DOK wines, because they cannot be released onto the market before the first of January that follows the vintage; when in actual fact the wine could be ready for release from the winery as early as November.

In these tough economic times this “bureaucratic oversight” is costing both the wine and the hospitality industry money.

Many countries in the rest of Europe quite happily release their QWPSR wines during the same year as the vintage, even though they harvest their grapes later than Maltese winemakers. So why shouldn’t we?

As an example, the 2012 vintage AOC French Beaujolais arrives on our shelves this November, but Maltese red DOK wines cannot be released until after Christmas!

Meanwhile Maltese wines, which would have been ready for months and could be out onto the marketplace in time for the busy Christmas period, will just be sitting in their vats waiting for January!

Hopefully someone will have the common sense to amend this legislation, so that both winemakers and their clients can realise the full sales potential of this popular wine.

However, on a positive note, running out of certain vintages of good wines should not come as a shock to many wine enthusiasts.

It is a common enough occurrence with quality foreign wines that are produced in limited quantities, that’s why so many are snapped up once they appear on the market by eagle-eyed wine lovers who are always on the lookout for something good to either drink straight away or to leave to mature for a while.

So if I were you, try the new 2011 vintage Medina and Gran Cavalier Sauvignon Blancs as quickly as you can and if you like them, stock up.

Both of the Sauvignon Blancs are DOK Malta wines and are produced using stainless steel fermentation only.

The Gran Cavalier, however, is made exclusively from grapes grown in selected vineyards and that have undergone the process of maceration pelliculaire, meaning that the crushed grapes are left on the skins for a minimum period of time prior to pressing and fermentation.

This process heightens the grapes’ varietal characteristics and increase the body and flavour of the resulting wine.