Some foreign grape vine varieties grown in the Malta at the present time

Abstract

During the last fifteen years in Malta and Gozo the viticulture industry had increased significantly. In 2001 Malta and Gozo had a total vineyard surface area of 345 hectares and in 2004 the total surface area had increased to 710 hectares. As it is seen in these three years there was an increase of 365 hectares. At the present time the total vineyard surface area in Malta and Gozo is more than 900 hectares. Malta will be able to increase the area under vines for the production of Quality wine and table wines with a geographic description to a total of 1 OOO hectares. This dissertation outlines the cultivation of the first Maltese wines (Gellewza and Girgentina); these vines were mainly grown spreading on the ground (alberello system). Today this method of cultivation is still used but it is decreasing. Nowadays in our country vines are planted using trellising where Vertical trellis system is mainly used. Today new technologies and equipment have been invented to help and facilitate the farmer's tasks. In 1970's foreign grape varieties were introduced to the Maltese islands. This change was very important to Maltese wine-making, because it allowed not only for the production of a better standard of wine, but also allowed considerable diversification of the types of wines produced. Today the cultivation of these international varieties is very common and these varieties took over our indigenous vines ( Gellewza and Girgentina ). The most common grape vine varieties cultivated recently in our country are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah as red grape varieties and Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc white grape varieties. This dissertation describes all the different characteristics of these five different grape vine varieties.