The 2017 vintage of the Victoria Heights Chardonnay, D.O.K. Gozo, superior won a silver medal at the 25th edition of the prestigious Chardonnay du Monde wine competition governed by the Forum Oenologie.
The award-winning wine is crafted by Emmanuel Delicata Winemaker. It was the winery’s only entry and the only Maltese wine to win this year.
Delicata has been successful before at this international wine judging event. The winery has amassed a total of 15 medals to date for their Chardonnay wines in the Victoria Heights (4), Grand Vin de Hauteville (6) and Gran Cavalier (5) ranges.
The Chardonnay du Monde is organised at the Château des Ravatys, the wine estate of the Pasteur Institute at Saint Lager in the Burgundy wine region of France, which is the heartland of the Chardonnay grape variety.
The long-standing wine challenge is held between the best Chardonnays in the world. Highly regarded, the competition is to Chardonnay what the Wimbledon Championships is to tennis, Circuit de Monaco to formula one or FIFA World Cup to football.
This year’s silver-medal winning Gozitan Chardonnay by Delicata vied for the wine judges’ appreciation amidst 679 wine samples from 39 countries. After three days of judging in March, the expert panels – who taste unaware of the wines’ identities – awarded 226 wines.
The competition covers all wine styles, including Champagnes and other sparkling wines, made from the Chardonnay grape variety, from lighter, dry types from cool European winemaking regions to weightier, oaked examples from chief wine producing countries like Australia and California.
Entries included some of France’s top Chardonnay appellations such as grands and premiers crus from Rully, Chablis, Meursault and Pouilly-Fuissé.
The 2017 unoaked Victoria Heights Chardonnay, grown in calcareous soils and made from hand-picked grapes from pocket-sized vineyards in Gozo, is a delicate, gallant bottle and a must-try if you like the tropical fruit flavours the grape can offer. The wine is vegan-friendly and sold in a returnable eco-friendly glass bottle.
All the results are available on www.chardonnay-du-monde.com