5 - 11 October 2000

Guaranteed price, guaranteed market

More than 70 farmers are using their land to grow vines as part of a scheme introduced by winemaker Delicata. Wine expert Bill Hermitage spoke to David Kelleher about the scheme

There is no doubt that Malta produces excellent wines. A tradition that goes back centuries, Maltese winemakers were blessed with a land that was suitable to growing vines and a climate that was near perfect. The only drawback was that very little land was available.
The lack of vineyards in Malta has proved to be a headache for the main winemakers who, regretfully, have to purchase a considerable amount of grapes from Italy to meet the local demands. On the other hand, even when they produce excellent wines these cannot be exported because EU directives state that any wine exports must be made with grapes from the country of origin. Thus Maltese winemakers are also losing out on a lucrative international market.
Six years ago, local winemaker, Delicata, realised that to be of service to its customers and to be able to produce grapes in a financially viable way, they had to work with the Maltese farmers/landowners.
“And that is exactly why Delicata decided to set up the Vines for Wines scheme,” Bill Hermitage, a local wine expert and coordinator of the scheme, told The Malta Business Weekly.
“Six years ago, many part-time farmers who owned land were not using it to its full potential. We offered them the opportunity to use that land to grow vines while at the same time guaranteeing a market for their product at a stipulated price. This was very important,” Mr Hermitage said.
Providing the technical know-how and expertise, the farmers began to learn how to grow and take care of the vines. What was even more important was that unlike a normal vineyard worker, the part-time farmer gave much more to see his land produce a good quality fruit.
“Today we have over 75 vineyards and each owner has now become a vigneron in his own right. We have a total of 360 tumoli of vines and this year they produced 90 tonnes of grapes,” Mr Hermitage said.
He added that this was quite a good crop but this was expected to double next year. “Each year the crop increases and so does the quality of the grapes. In the beginning the scheme was criticised because the landowners did not have the experience and because the vineyards were too small,” Mr Hermitage said.
Today, however, these same two factors have become Delicata’s main assets. “People with no experience follow our instructions to the letter so you are guaranteed that the job will be carried out properly. Now, six years on they have the experience and the land is theirs. The smaller the vineyard the better because that means the farmer or land owner will be able to take care of it with greater ease. The best size for a vineyard is between 6-8 tumoli,” he explained.
Mr Hermitage said that a total of 2,500 tumoli of land would be required to meet Delicata’s needs. If this amount of land was available, the company would not have to spend up to Lm1 million a year to buy grapes from Italy.
“Every tonne bought locally is one tonne less bought from abroad. The more we produce here the more we save and the more money – in the form of bonuses – the farmer/land owner will receive,” he said.
He added that for the local wine industry to become self-sustainable, a total of 10,000 tumoli of land would be needed.
“This may seem quite a high figure, but when you realise that Malta has around 120,000 tumoli of agricultural land, the industry’s needs are quite small, in fact only 8.5 per cent of agricultural land,” Mr Hermitage said.
“If the land was available, nearly Lm4m would be passed on to the farmers/landowners and not the Italians. There would no longer be any need to buy grapes from abroad. What is amazing is that it costs nearly as much to get the grapes from Marsa to Marsa that from Italy to Malta,” he added.
The question that arises is what do the farmers/landowners get in return from giving up their land. Three landowners told The Malta Business Weekly that in the past the market for their produce was never guaranteed and the price could go up or down. Now the market is guaranteed and they are earning more in the long term.
“The scheme provides the owners with a fixed price for every tonne of crop. Depending on the quality of the grape they are given a bonus. What is more important to them is that no matter how much their vines produce it will be bought. This is not the case with other products,” Mr Hermitage said.
“In the first few years, it was difficult to convince farmers and land owners that the scheme was viable and they stood to benefit. Six years on, more and more owners are showing interest in Delicata’s scheme. Landowners mingle and share experiences and more are coming on board every year. It may be difficult to reach our targets but we are on the right track,” Mr Hermitage said.