If there’s one grape variety that deserves to be celebrated, it’s got to be Chardonnay. Not only is it the ingredient of white burgundy and an important part of the blend of most champagnes, Chardonnay is responsible for a disproportionate amount of the world’s finest whites and simply the number-one selling white wine varietal in [...]
While vino-fashionistas have thrown it off like an old winter coat, to most wine drinkers Cabernet Sauvignon is still that classic black dress that never goes out of style. Labels draped with names of other trendy, rare grape varieties get all the hype now. Yet let’s not forget: Cabernet Sauvignon is the world’s most planted [...]
A term that is likely to appear on quite a few Maltese wines of the latest 2017 vintage, which yielded a small but concentrated grape crop, and warrants attention, is ‘superior’. Superior is one of several so-called ‘special mentions’ which a Malta-grown wine released for consumption may bear on its label subject to complying with [...]
The Maltese archipelago boasts two commercially viable native grape varieties. Thankfully one of them is dark-skinned so that, besides wonderfully fresh white wines, wineries can also craft interesting reds and inimitable rosés, a category that’s gaining in popularity. The grape I’m referring to is, of course, Ġellewża, Malta’s very own red cultivar, which apropos got [...]
Winemaking may not be rocket science, but the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point system, or HACCP, originally designed to protect astronauts from food poisoning, has slowly become an important safety standard for the wine industry. In the past, it could be said that attention to detail, cleanliness and experience were enough for most wineries [...]