Wine crisis: Malta urgently needs new vines, says Marsovin boss

Marsovin, the island’s largest winemakers, are facing another poor harvest after a year of low rainfall and blazing heatwaves. CEO Jeremy Cassar said the vineyard was expecting only a small increase from its international varietials compared to last year, when yield fell around 25 per cent after a record-breaking dry spell. Yield from the indigenous Girgentina and Ġellewza varieties, however, have declined even further this year, following a year in which more than a third of vines were lost to the poor weather. “Demand is up, but without urgent measures to incentivise production, certified Maltese wine will not be available as it has in previous years,” Mr Cassar said during a press conference earlier today. Some 380 millimetres of rain have fallen since last September, a small increase on last year but a far cry from the 540mm yearly average for the island. Moreover, just 40mm of this year’s rainfall came after February, the vine’s vegetative period, with most concentrated in the dormant period. Mr Cassar said the heatwaves of the past three months had exacerbated the situation, drying up a large part of the foliage and shrivelling whole bunches of grapes exposed to direct...