Winery CEO calls for more investment in farmers

Annual grape harvest goes into full swing

Malta needs to invest more in local farmers, otherwise it runs the risk of losing the independence and self-sufficiency of the Maltese product, warned Marsovin CEO Jeremy Cassar during a press conference at the company’s Marnisi Estate in Marsaxlokk yesterday.

Cassar said that the average age of farmers in Malta was rising to worrying levels, and in fact currently sits around the mid-fifties mark. He cautioned that Malta risks finding itself in a very desperate situation unless the right incentives are given to local farmers in both the vine growing sector and in other agricultural sectors.

If no investment is made in these sectors, Cassar said, then Malta could face a very serious situation in its agricultural sectors within the next five to ten years.

First organic grapes to be harvested

Cassar also announced that as part of the current harvest season, Marsovin will be harvesting its first batch of organic grapes to turn into wine. The harvesting season has already begun, with chardonnay grapes being harvested from the Cassar de Malta estates in Wardija in mid-July already. However, this is the first time that Marsovin will be producing an organic wine, and it is the culmination of a process which started in 2013.

It took three years to convert the land being used and a further two years to arrive to the point today where the grapes can be harvested. Cassar explained that organic viticulture, which is strictly governed by the European Union and the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority, is a process fraught with challenges.

The main one is in terms of maintaining the health of the grapes. In organic viticulture, the use of products that prevent disease cannot be used; instead, treatment can be carried out with natural products only after the first signs of disease are detected, a point which may be too late for the product.

Disease prevention is also partially obtained by limiting the vegetative growth in order to allow enough air circulation around the grape bunches to reduce excessive humidity. These operations involve shoot selection in spring as well as defoliation during grape ripening. Therefore, there is much more manual labour involved in this growth process than in conventional viticulture processes.

Organic farming also limits the use of commercial fertilisers, were only natural manure, or fertilisers obtained from natural manure is allowed. Such products are obviously less effective than commercial mineral fertilisers and this limits yield output. “However, Marsovin was never interested in pushing for yields from its estates, and therefore this does not actually impact much on our yields,” Cassar explained.

Average yield of grapes for 2018

Cassar said that a wetter than usual February, which saw 181mm of rain, saved the harvest. At the same time, however, unexpected rains in July and August were less than positive for most of the products.

As a result of these climactic factors, the yield on most of the international varieties was average. Due to the heavy rains in February, however, the local non-irrigated varieties are expected to give higher yields than the past two years.

The mild summer temperature, meanwhile, has resulted in a very slow gradual grape maturity, which should result in complex well balanced aromatic wines, Cassar explained.

On a negative note, however, the southern winds and high humidity characterising most of July and the beginning of August, as well as the summer rainfall resulted in some grape rot on the most susceptible varieties.