Yes, there is a third part to this saga. Turns out it is not too difficult to find reasonably priced, home-grown, wine in Malta. Really, has nobody every done a full-on wine tasting of Maltese wines before now?
Anyway, here is La Croce, another entry from Camilleri wines.
Blurb on Bottle: Locally grown, intense red and fruit character on the nose and palate supported by a medium bodied intensity and soft tannins making an approachable wine suitable for everyday consumption.
We Say: You can smell the tannin, but the taste is surprisingly crisp and smooth. No sticky after-taste with this one, it’s great value at less than a fiver.
Bought For: €3.50
Next up for your delictation is Tal-Latini from Gozo
Blurb on Bottle: Well blended wine which presents a very intense red colour and a balanced bouquet of mature red pulp fruit.
We Say: This wine is not strictly Merlot, it’s a Merlot-Cabernet Sauvignon mix. Smells like you have walked into a Victorian Gentleman’s Club. It is a deliciously heavy, syrupy wine, one of the best you will find in this price bracket. Definitely worth investigating if you can find it.
Bought For: €6.50
Blurb on Bottle: Fresh, soft, cherry-plum and peppery spice flavours, enhanced by light oak nuances. Unfiltered to protect it’s natural characterWe Say: This is another mix, Syrah with Merlot this time. Quite strong and full-bodied, as I am learning to say. Not bad but not a personal favourite
Bought For: €8.50
Finally we have Laurenti, another entry from the good folk at the Camilleri Vineyards.
Blurb on Bottle:Made from hand-picked Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes harvested from selected vineyards in the North West of Malta the wine is aged in oak barriques for over a year to produce the typical Laurenti experience.
We Say: What is a barrique? I could google it of course, except I’m pretty sure it will just turn out to be some fancy French type of a barrel. Anyway we were a little disappointed by this wine. It is nice, but we expected a little more based on the price in comparison to some of the others we’ve tried.
Bought For: €8.25
To remind you of what else we discovered, here are PART 1 and PART 2 of the search for top red wines.
Now should we come across another batch of reasonably priced Merlots, we will of course add them to the list. But up to now, which wine has ticked all the boxes for us?
Well, from the under five euros group, it is definitely between La Croce and Palatino. La Croce probably just about gets our vote as number one, but they are both fantastic value.
Of the (slightly) more expensive bunch, tal-latini is a very strong contender, but we are going to go with 1551 from Gozo as our winner.
Share this:
