Delicata Customises New Refrigerated Fermentation Hall
(1.) Top quality free run Chardonnay must is pumped into temperature controlled stainless steel tanks located in Delicata’s new refrigerated white wine fermenting hall. (2.) Hand-picked Chardonnay grapes prior to pressing.
The 2015 grape harvest began in spectacular fashion last week as we pressed the very first Chardonnay grapes, which were then passed through to our brand new, customised, refrigerated, white wine fermentation unit, which has just been constructed.
Delicata can now proudly boast two fermentation halls. Our state-of-the-art Main fermentation hall with its ‘cathedral’ of stainless steel tanks and other winemaking equipment, is mainly used for grape pressing and red wine production and is equipped with specialised pump over vats and Ganimede tanks of various sizes. But our latest technical breakthrough is a bespoke 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 latest technological winemaking initiative has been evolving since we finished the last harvest 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 our winemaker Matthew Delicata to separate, ferment and store single ‘boutique’ vineyard wines of selected grape varieties from specific areas. The temperature controlled hall also houses some new 225 litre French and American oak barrels that will be used for our Gran Cavalier Chardonnay fermentation and red wine maturation.
This latest development is the 3rd phase of an investment plan we initiated approximately 7 years ago. The result of our ‘winemaking facility overhaul’ now consists of a separate grape receiving and quality inspection area, an eco-friendly Main fermentation hall and all the technologically advanced winemaking equipment required to operate it efficiently and finally this new refrigerated white wine fermentation unit; a total investment of millions of euros.
The first grapes to roll into the these facilities at the winery on the waterfront arrived on Thursday 6th August, and over three days we have crushed approximately 100 tonnes 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, which will result in us producing more Sauvignon Blanc wine, as due to popular demand our 2014 Medina Sauvignon Blanc has already sold out. With regards to quality the end result should be on a par with last year. Fortuitously the sudden thunderstorms and rain we have had over recent days has helped slightly to counterbalance the effects of the earlier heat waves and the affect that might have had on the vines. The remainder of our Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc grapes, including the Gozitan grapes, will be pressed next week, before we start on the other white Viognier and Vermentino grapes, and following that our first red grapes will be pressed, but only for our Rose wine production.
