Graham Archer, an English wine tutor and fellow International Wine Challenge judge, visited the Delicata winery during his two-week stay in Malta. His visit to the winery coincided with the pressing of approx 30,000 kilos of Delicata’s DOK Malta Sauvignon Blanc grapes on Tuesday.

Mr Archer, who had visited the winery some eight years ago, was noticeably impressed with the transformation of Delicata winery since the last time he visited.

In the past five years, the winery has invested in a re-development programme resulting in a state-of-the-art fermentation hall and grape-receiving bay that surpasses that found in many European countries and beyond.

In the last 18 months alone, over 30 new stainless steel fermentation tanks have been installed, including a few famed technologically advanced Ganimede fermenters.

After tasting the Sauvignon Blanc juice directly from the press, Archer also tasted the DOK Malta Chardonnay pressed four days previously with managing director V. George Delicata. Delicata explained in detail the benefits of all the new technology installed and the noticeable effect it has on the quality of the grape juice (must) extracted.

The Chardonnay must they tasted was the free-run Chardonnay – the very best quality of juice extracted as it is removed from the grapes without pressing – that will eventually go into Delicata’s premium medal-winning wine brands Gran Cavalier and Grand Vin de Hauteville.

Delicata went on to explain the importance of the hands-on approach by the Delicata family, when it comes to the winemaking process. Mr Archer was introduced to the three Delicata brothers, Mario, Michael and Matthew, all of whom are involved on a daily basis in the company’s business.

“The fact that we are an independent, fourth-generation, family-run winemaker is very important to us,” Mr Delicata said. “Our family has been making Maltese wine for over 100 years and we are proud that Delicata wines are truly family wines, every step of the way – from the 380 farming families that grow our grapes to us, the Delicata family, who turn them into wine and, finally, to the families who consume them.”

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.