Made in Malta

Why will anyone visit Malta? The answers are aplenty.

For history buffs, this tiny republic that lies south of Italy is a UNESCO World Heritage Site densely packed with history at every corner and every step. Its sister island Gozo beckons locals and tourists alike with her electrifyingly blue seas and the Azure Window, an internationally acclaimed geographical wonder that recently shot to greater fame as the filming location for the hit series, Game of Thrones.

The unsuspecting wine lover will chance upon another reason. What is little written about in travel guides but is a point of local pride are Malta’s homegrown wineries. True, the vines that the Phoenicians planted more than 2,000 years ago during their rule have always yielded wine. But it was only in the post-independence era of the 1970s that an understanding of Malta’s terroir and the semblance of a wine scene geared up.

Excerpt from the August 2015 issue of epicure.