Visits to the Delicata winery to witness the pressing of this year’s grapes have been a resounding success according to a Delicata spokesperson. “Every date we have allocated has been fully booked” he said. “The only date remaining with a few places is Tuesday 7th September”.

The visits, which have been hosted by the Delicata Press Gang, have been made up from a mixture of the general public and members from the HORECA (Hotel, restaurant & catering) trade. The groups were kept to a ‘manageable’ size so that explanations by the Press Gang could be heard over the noise of the machinery as it carried out the pressing process.

After a brief introduction, Delicata’s viticultural expert Dione Caruana explained in detail the lengths he has to go to, throughout the year, to ensure that only the best quality grapes are grown, harvested and delivered to the Delicata winery. Dr. Edric Bonello, the company’s winemaker then explains the de-stemming, pressing and fermentation processes to the visitors, while it’s all taking place. I then took the visitors through a tasting of the juice just after pressing, wine must that is half way through its fermentation and the finished product from last years 2009 vintage.

Depending on the harvesting schedule and the weather over the coming days there is a possibility that another Press Gang ‘performance’ will take place on Tuesday 14th September. If a crushing is taking place on this date I will keep readers informed on this page.