Emmanuel Delicata began the 2015 grape harvest last week in a spectacular fashion as it pressed the very first Chardonnay grapes. These were then passed through to the winery’s brand-new, customised and refrigerated white wine fermentation unit, which has just been constructed.
Delicata now has two fermentation halls. Its state-of-the-art main fermentation hall with its ‘cathedral’ of stainless steel tanks and other winemaking equipment, which is mainly used for grape pressing and red wine production, is equipped with specialised pump-over vats and Ganimede tanks of various sizes.
The winery’s latest technical breakthrough is a customised refrigerated hall that houses white wine fermenting and storage tanks together with new oak barriques; but it’s not just the individual stainless steel tanks that are temperature controlled, it is the whole hall!
This project has been evolving since the last harvest finished in September 2014 and was completed last week, exactly in time for this year’s harvest. This innovative unit houses stainless steel tanks of varying sizes, allowing the winemaker to separate, ferment and store single ‘boutique’ vineyard wines of selected grape varieties from specific areas.
The temperature-controlled hall also houses new 225-litre French and American oak barrels that will be used for white wine fermentation and red wine maturation. This development forms part of the third phase of an investment plan initiated approximately seven years ago by the company. The result of its ‘winemaking facility overhaul’ is a separate grape-receiving and quality inspection area, an eco-friendly main fermentation hall and technologically advanced winemaking equipment required to operate it efficiently, and, finally, this new refrigerated white wine fermentation unit, which required an investment of millions of euros.
The first grapes to roll into these facilities arrived last Thursday, and over three days the winery crushed approximately 100 tons of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc grapes, all hand-picked from selected Malta vineyards.
The yields this year are slightly up on last year for both grape varieties. And there is good news for Sauvignon Blanc lovers as Delicata is pressing more and more each year, as due to popular demand the 2014 Medina Sauvignon Blanc is already out of stock. With regard to quality, the end result should be on a par with last year.
Fortuitously, the sudden thunderstorms and rain of recent days has helped slightly to counterbalance the effects of the earlier heatwaves and the affect this weather might have had on the vines.
The remainder of Delicata’s Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc grapes, including the Gozitan grapes, will be pressed next week before the pressing of the other white Viognier and Vermentino grapes. Following that, the first red grapes will be pressed, but only for rosé wine production.