If I could, I would fly this grape on a flagstaff. Of course, it’s impractical: Grenache is so juicy it would goo and glop away. Lately, I’ve grown fond of this dark-skinned grape variety that comes in a vast variety of different wine styles and which has also found local favour. Grenache Noir is its … Read More
Wine
You say varietal, I say variety
Rummaging through the pages of a keepsake wine list of a long-forgotten Maltese restaurant with a three-colour charcoal drawing on the cover of a bottle of Pommard next to a pair of vermouth glasses, I realise how wine preferences have changed. Judging by the vintages and prices, the faded list must be about 50 years … Read More
Veraison: grapes in full colour
Malta’s vineyards are spattered with brightly-coloured dots in new shades of yellow and red hues peeping through leafy vine canopies ready to have their ripe crop picked. The vivid transformation from small green berries to fully-coloured grapes known as veraison (and pronounced ‘VEH-ray-zoh’) has come to an end. Adopted into English use, veraison is originally a French viticultural term meaning ‘the onset of grape ripening’ … Read More
Grasping Girgentina
Just say ‘Girgentina’. The soft sibilance, the internal alliteration, the jovial completion, whether you give it the sharp English pronunciation or slowly ease off the word in Maltese, it’s a sound suggestive of heritage and, of course, wine.
Wine hacks for summer salads
As a wine lover you may not be overly keen on a summer diet of salads for the simple reason that many a bowl of greens is often pretty unfriendly to your favourite drink. Luckily there are some hacks to appease the confrontation between tossed vegetables and the divine nectar.