Quality wines
The European Union’s wine regulations
establish the minimum requisites for table wines to be marketed as such. Table
wines do not have a link with a particular territory.
On the other hand, wines with a
Geographical Indication (PDO or PGI) have a direct link to the territory of
production and through stricter rules of production, the quality of the wine
goes beyond the minimum requirements established for a table wine.
Malta has 3 GI wines; the IĠT
‘Maltese Islands’, the DOK ‘Malta’ and the DOK ‘Gozo’. The IĠT ‘Maltese
Islands’ is a wine produced from grapes cultivated on the islands and has a
production protocol that limits the yield of grapes per hectare to attain
higher quality than the table wines.
The DOK ‘Malta’ and DOK ‘Gozo’ are
wines that attain a higher quality even from the IĠT wines through stricter
yields per hectare, methods of cultivation and the use of only the most
suitable grape varieties. The grapes for such wines have to be produced
exclusively in Malta and Gozo respectively.
Certification
Wines being marketed as DOK or IĠT
have to be certified as such after a rigorous process carried out by the
Directorate. The Directorate follows the whole wine making process from the
beginning by assessing the production and making sure that the grapes are
suitable for the production of such wines.
When the wine is ready, the
Directorate collects the DOK and IĠT wine samples and sends them to an
accredited foreign laboratory for analysis the to ensure that they comply with
their respective standard. Moreover, the DOK wines need also be submitted to a
panel of professional wine tasters for their evaluation prior to be certified
as such.
Aside from the written denominations
on the respective labels; the DOK ‘Malta’ & DOK ‘Gozo’ wines carry a pale
yellow banderole, whilst IĠT ‘Maltese Islands’ wines have a green banderole
making them easily recognizable from the table wines which lack these yellow
and green banderols and instead carry the pink excise stamp in the form of a
banderole or a small circular stamp attached to the bottle.
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