Thousands of visitors attended Delicata’s very first official open day recently, at the company’s winery on Paola waterfront. Wine enthusiasts started flocking in as soon as the doors opened at 10.00am and there was a steady stream of people all day up until it closed at 6.00pm.

Visitors casually strolled throughout the whole winery complex following the winemakers trail which explained the transformation the grape undergoes as it is turned into quality wine. Many people were particularly interested in tasting the recent 2009 vintage wines directly from the temperature controlled stainless steel fermentation tanks. The audio visual presentation area was also very well attended.

A spokesperson from Delicata said “We are delighted with the turnout for this event, it has exceeded our expectations. We are particularly pleased with the many positive comments we received from people attending who had no idea of the lengths we go too to produce a quality bottle of  Maltese wine. If you have never visited our winery it is impossible to envisage the state of the art technology and machinery we have installed here. We are proud of the winemaking facility we have, which is unrivalled here on our islands. It is vitally important to look after the grapes in the vineyards, as every winemaker will tell you, but equally important is the winemaking side of the story. There is an old saying that ‘you cannot make good wine from poor grapes’ but more importantly we believe that ‘you can make poor wine from good grapes’ if you don’t have the right skills and equipment, and that is why we are constantly investing in new technology and introducing new winemaking practices all the time.”

In a fairly recent international technical audit report conducted independently by David Bird MW his report read “Quality standards in Delicata are very high. There are documented procedures and monitoring systems in all areas.”

Following the success of Delicata’s open day, we will almost certainly be repeating the event, with a few improvements, next year the spokesperson concluded.