Delicata’s 12th Classic Wine Festival will get underway in the heart of Gozo’s viticultural area, Nadur, in seven days’ time. This popular wine event is once again celebrating the closure of the Maltese and Gozitan grape harvest.
Over 20 DOK and IGT quality wines from Malta and Gozo will be available for visitors to try. The festival is run in close collaboration with the Nadur local council and takes place at the Ġnien il-Kunsill which enjoys spectacular views of the Nadur valley leading down to Mġarr and then across the channel, taking in the islands of Comino and Malta.
The event takes place over three evenings starting at 7pm. Glasses can be purchased until 11pm and all of the wine stands will stop pouring wine at 11.30pm. The festival finishes at midnight.
There is no entrance fee but any person (over 17 years of age) who wishes to try as many of the wines on show as they like, needs to purchase a souvenir glass, which is then theirs to keep. Glass purchasers will have to wear a wristband, which will change colour every night. No wine will be served to anyone without a wristband.
Live entertainment is on every night with Upper Lip and Straight Ahead performing on August 29; Cash & Band, This.co and Viral Vibe Drums on Saturday; and Gozo Boy and Round House Kick on Sunday.
A number of food stalls will offer a variety of dishes such as suckling pig, Chinese cuisine, baguettes, pizza, crepes, pasta dishes, including traditional spaghetti with bebbux (snails), BBQ foods, beef flambé and sweets and pastries. There will also be a seated dining area operated by La Stanza restaurant, which has recently reopened under new management, offering a buffet of assorted grilled foods.
Here are a few great combinations to try out: suckling pig accompanied by a glass of Gran Cavalier barrel-matured Merlot and oriental food with either the medium dry Dolcino Bianco or rosé, or if you prefer something slightly drier, the Medina Vermentino Zibibbo.
If your choice of food is pasta or a pizza, the IGT wines Pjazza Regina or the Maltese Falcon wines are always a safe bet, but if you are opting for the spaghetti and snails, the recently upgraded Classic Collection Marenzio Merlot will go down a treat.
Beef flambé and Grand Vin de Hauteville Shiraz Cabernet, to use modern phraseology is a ‘no-brainer’, as are the combinations for those of you with a sweet tooth: the Classic Collection Casella Moscato or Malta’s very own indigenous semisparkling, demi-sec, rosé wine Ġellewża Frizzante are perfect accompaniments to desserts.
For any visitors coming from Malta there is no need to cross to Gozo with your car.
There be a wine festival shuttle service just outside the ferry terminal in Mġarr for just €2 (return trip) per person or one can use the public transport.
As a passing thought, just in case a certain Brad and Angelina are on the island and happen to be reading this, they are more than welcome to come along, relax and join the party, and enjoy some great award-winning local wines.
They might particularly want to try out our rosés, not southern French but Maltese – yet just as special.