Riżerva released by Delicata
Delicata released their first ‘Riżerva’ edition of the Gran Cavalier Syrah DOK Malta Superior, 2017.
Producing a Riżerva is time consuming.
This premium red wine is a vibrant bottle of structure and excitement that’s the result of 13 months barrel maturation and almost another entire year ageing in bottle prior to release.
For this particular wine, and undoubtedly many others, Riżerva means more than just additional ageing.
The Syrah grapes were handpicked at optimum phenolic ripeness, and come from two low-yielding Maltese vineyards protected by a typical rubble wall, or ‘ħajt tas-sejjieħ’ in Maltese.
The French would call such enclosed vineyard plots ‘clos’. It’s an eloquent term which they use in the name of famous wines even when the wall no longer exists.
Intuitively, though, the term means more than land demarcation. Clos alludes to a state of mind on the part of the winemaker who compartmentalises in his work, trusting that in doing so the grapes will mark the wine with a ‘taste of the land’.
For Delicata’s Riżerva, winemaker Matthew Delicata chose two Maltese clos: one vineyard in Tat-Trapna near Rabat for its well-draining carbonate raw soil and another one in Lunzjata planted to heavier clayish loam that retains more precipitation.
This Syrah Riżerva is the upshot of careful vineyard tending: it’s made from quality grapes that have been caringly grown by working hand in glove with – not against – the Maltese land, the generous people and sunny climate.
The grapes from each vineyard were vinified separately and the free run wine and press wine also were kept to age apart in various different types of oak barriques, which gave the winemaker a broad palette of batches to blend into one wholesome wine.
How does it taste?
Rich and pure red and black fruit are plentiful but particularly a flavour of Maraschino cherries trumps the notorious gaminess of the Syrah grape in this well-balanced and delicious Riżerva of Malta. The wine is velvety soft and round with a well-judged dose of herbal freshness and a slightly smokey overlay.
The Maltese winemaking protocols are strict. To be worthy of the Riżerva mention, a red wine must first of all fulfil the criteria for DOK Superior certification and have a minimum natural alcoholic strength of 12.5% vol.
The wine cannot be released before 24 months have elapsed from the 1st of September of the harvest year. It must age in barrique for at least 12 months and at least a further 6 months in bottle.
Delicata’s Riżerva spent 13 months in French oak barrique. It was bottled on 16 November 2018 and released for sale almost a year later on 9 November 2019.
This article by Georges Meekers was first published in the Times of Malta on 13/12/19.
