Wine produced by Meridiana was “blessed by ancient gods”, according to a food blog on the website of UK celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.

Written by Jim Tanfield, writer and editor of Jamie’s blog, the piece describes the Meridian Wine Estate, in Ta’ Qali, as lush in the “shadow of the incredibly beautiful and unspoiled ancient capital of Malta, Mdina”.

The “verdant” contrasted sharply with the arid landscape that could be seen when flying over the island, the blog said.

Mr Tanfield interviewed Karl Chetcuti, the vineyard’s general manager, noting that the venture made the best of the soil and climate “it has been blessed with”.

Between 130,000 and 140,000 bottles of “cracking wine” are produced every year.

Loaded with photographs of crates filled with grapes, the vineyard and wine bottles, the blog post describes the popular Isis as “light and citrusy on the nose” while the other “goddess”, Astarte, was “just gorgeous”. However, it was the Nexus – a Merlot – that drew the highest praise. Mr Tanfield described it as “singularly perfection – one estate, one grape, one hell of a wine”.

Even the packaging, with the gold leaf labels caught his attention and Mr Tanfield said he was “pretty confident that Maltese wines in general and Meridiana in particular will be on everyone’s lips before long”.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/news-and-blogs/blogs/maltese-wine-blessed-ancient-gods