Once a winemaker found himself in the awkward position of being reproved while dining out by the chef- patron because his winery had run out of stock of one of the bestselling wines on the restaurant’s carefully curated list. To this, the winemaker graciously replied with the question why the catch of the day didn’t … Read More
The adjective ‘heroic’ has, of course, been used before in the world of wine, namely to describe the efforts of vignerons and winemakers that work in steep, precipitous places inhospitable to man. Malta may not qualify as a mountainous island. But what else would you call local winegrowing if not audacious, brave and courageous? In … Read More
Alas, land is far from sacred in Malta and even linguistically it’s sometimes referred to harshly and contemptuously. Through the use of the word xagħri, which derives from the Arabic sahra for desert, we demote our garrigue, those few untouched patches of literally hundreds of different low-growing shrubs and rare indigenous plants, to useless land … Read More