The Delicata winery is bringing home the country’s very first silver as well as a bronze medal from the 2021 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) in London.

The Gran Cavalier Merlot 2018 DOK Malta Superior was awarded a prestigious silver medal with a score of 92 points by the expert judges. This is a solid mark also attained by big names and grands crus you expect to excel from Merlot-centred appellations such as Saint-Émilion (France), Bolgheri (Italy) and Napa Valley (the US).

The Gran Cavalier Merlot won silver at the Decanter World Wine Awards.The Gran Cavalier Merlot won silver at the Decanter World Wine Awards.

Delicata’s second entry, the Gran Cavalier Sauvignon Blanc 2019 DOK Malta Superior received a well-deserved bronze medal in a highly- competitive field.

“This is a huge honour because of the sterling reputation of the contest itself”, winery director Mario Delicata said.

“To have a Maltese wine win silver and another bronze at Decanter, which is the Olympics of wine competitions, is a great win for all of us at the winery, our affiliated grape growers and business partners, and the Maltese wine sector in general.”

Now in its 18th year, DWWA is the world’s most influential wine competition that is trusted for its rigorous judging process by a team of expert judges, which included 44 masters of wine and 11 master sommeliers this year.

Delicata’s big win at the Decanter contest, which has an unrivalled global reach, lends further credence to the fact that the winery is crafting Maltese wines of world-class quality and excellence.

The experts described the taste of Delicata’s Gran Cavalier Merlot as reminiscent of “black fruit compote with hints of charcoal, dark chocolate and green tea with a velvet palate of ripe tannins with well-framed texture and balance”.

Their tasting note for the winery’s unique Gran Cavalier Sauvignon Blanc hails the Maltese wine’s varietal characteristics as in terms of “fragrant passion fruit, lantana flowers, and green tart apples with a lemon rind finish”.

Delicata’s Gran Cavalier collection is Malta’s most awarded range of Maltese wines and has earned 34 international honours to date. Delicata, Malta’s foremost, fourth-generation family-run winery, has won an unrivalled total of 142 international awards to date.

Georges Meekers is Delicata’s head of marketing and an award-winning wine writer.

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