Advanced Viticultural Practices

The Delicata family knows that this is the most critical step in the winemaking process: it is impossible to make great wine from mediocre grapes. Applying advanced viticultural practices that are site specific, we choose to pursue excellence in every grape, ensuring ideal ripeness and picking only then, even if it means less than an acre at a time. All by hand, of course.

We have come a long way thanks to Delicata’s ‘Vines for Wines’ project which we launched in 1994 to encourage landowners to grow quality grapes for the winery. The ‘Vines for Wines’ project headed by Delicata’s team of viticultural experts has helped the farming community to plant hundreds of vineyards throughout Malta and Gozo using modern planting methods and drip irrigation. The varieties include the two indigenous grapes Girgentina and Gellewza and many more international varieties which were until then not commercially grown in Malta.

Although grapegrowing has got ancient roots in Malta, the country’s wine industry is young and modern viticultural practices were developed only lately with Delicata at the forefront of that change.

300 growers, one exceptional Domaine

Today, around 300 vignerons grow grapes of over 20 different international varieties for Delicata in family run pocket-sized vineyards. In addition to this, more are growing Malta’s indigenous Girgentina and Gellewza exclusively for Delicata. At Delicata, these unique Maltese grapes play a vital role in our winemaking philosophy and we have been championing their existence and revival for many years.

The tapestry of all these vineyards is what makes up Delicata’s domaine for the production of wines of Maltese appellation and this domaine of many pocket sized family-run vineyards is what sets us apart. Crafting fine wine means matching the right site with the right grape variety, the right soil, rootstock, trellis system, row orientation, slope, and pruning regimen. No other Maltese winemaker works as site-specific as we do. To quote wine writer Stuart Walton: “the company, which owns no vineyard land, draws on the hawkishly monitored produce of (their) contract growers”. And yet, despite all our efforts and plenty of nurturing throughout the year, as always, ultimately it’s up to nature to deliver.

The Fresh Taste of Malta

At Delicata we like to think we are a steward of wines, guiding each one throughout the process, dutifully monitoring fermentation, carefully deciding if and how to age, and diligently tasting along the way, all to ensure we bottle the very best wine possible at the best possible price. We keep on investing in cellar technology, which combined with precision viticulture, gives our unique wines an exciting, new ‘Fresh Taste of Malta’. We have been bestowed with praise and told – several times over – that the wines we create reflect everything a modern wine consumer requires, fruit driven fresh wines that offer flavour, consistency and quality.