I{T WINES PRODUCTION PROTOCOLS REGULATIONS

I{T WINES PRODUCTION PROTOCOLS

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 436.06

I{T WINES PRODUCTION PROTOCOLS

REGULATIONS

1st May, 2007

LEGAL NOTICE 167 of 2007.

The title of these regulations is the I{T Wines Production

Protocols Regulations.

In these regulations, unless already defined in the Act, the

following words and phrases shall have the following meanings

"the Act" means the Wine Act;

"the Minister" means the Minister responsible for agriculture;

"the Unit" means the office responsible for viticulture and

oenology.

The Unit is hereby designated as the competent office for

en forci ng these regu lations and for the certification of t he

prescribed I.{.T. wines.

(1) Certification shall be awarded by the Unit following an

official request, made in writing, from the wine producer concerned

and after the Unit has carried out the necessary technical and

administrative checks to verify that the wines produced conform to

the relevant protocol.

(2) Wines shall only be certified as "MALTESE ISLANDS"

I.{.T. wines if the protocol in Schedule I is fully respected.

Schedule I

Production Protocol of the "Maltese Islands" I.{.T. Wines

Article 1 - Geographical Indication.

1.1 The geographic indication (GI) "MALTESE ISLANDS" shall be reserved to

the wines that satisfy all the conditions specified in this protocol.

1.2 The geographic indication "MALTESE ISLANDS" may be substituted by

"OF THE MALTESE ISLANDS".

Article 2 - Oenological Typologies.

2.1 The geographical indication shall be reserved only for the following

typologies of wine

(a) Red;

(b) White;

(c) Rosé;

(d) Varietal: with a specification of a variety listed in article 4.

2.2 The typologies of article 2.1 may be complemented with the specification

"Novello", "Frizzante", "Semi-Sparkling" or "Aerated Semi-Sparkling", and

"Liqueur Wine", under the conditions established in this protocol and, where

applicable, as defined in Annex I of Council Regulation (EC) 1493/99.

Article 3 - Demarcation of the region of grape production.

3. The delimitation of the production region of grapes for I.{.T. "MALTESE

ISLANDS" shall be the whole region of the Maltese Islands with the exclusion of the

harbour area in the Island of Malta as detailed in the scaled map attached as Annex I.

The harbour area is defined in Annex III.

Article 4 - Ampelographic scope.

4.1 The "MALTESE ISLANDS" I.{.T. wines shall be produced from grapes

harvested in the region described in article 3. The "MALTESE ISLANDS" I.{.T.

Red, White and Rosé wine typologies may be obtained from one or more of the grape

varieties listed in the Classification of Vine Varieties (Production of Wine Grapes)

Regulations, 2006 - Legal Notice 188 of 2006.

4.2 A mono-varietal mention may be used if the said wine contains a minimum

85% of the grape variety to be mentioned. The remaining 15% may be derived from

non-aromatic grapes having the same I.{.T. typology.

Article 5 - Method of cultivation.

The environmental and cultivation methods in vineyards used for the

production of wines listed in article 2 must be according to the traditional practices

of the demarcated region described in article 3.

Article 6 - Yield limits of finished wine ready for consumption.

1 The maximum production of wine per hectare allowed for the production of

"MALTESE ISLANDS" I.{.T. wines in hl/ha of selected vineyards is as follows

•

125 hl/ha for all varieties used in the White and Rosé typologies with or

without a mono-varietal mention;

•

120 hl/ha for all varieties used in the Red typologies with or without a

mono-varietal mention.

6.2

The Director may establish a maximum limit of production which may be

I{T WINES PRODUCTION PROTOCOLS

superior or inferior to that fixed in this production protocol, on the advice of the

Wine Regulation Board and the interested producers’ organisations, from year to

year, before the harvest, taking into account the climatic conditions.

Article 7 - Vinification Protocols.

Region of vinification

1 Vinification operations, ageing, and bottling and ageing in bottles shall be

carried out within the territory of the region of production referred to in article 3.

7.2 For the production of "MALTESE ISLANDS" I.{.T. wines in all typologies,

the above operations may also be carried out in the following regions in close

proximity

1. Malta Harbour area

Article 8 - Minimum Alcoholic strengths.

1

Minimum Potential Natural Alcohol Strength of grapes.

For the production of the "MALTESE ISLANDS" I.{.T. wines, with or

without a varietal mention, all the grape varieties, except for Girgentina and

{ellew\a, must guarantee a minimum natural alcoholic strength of

•

0% for the White and Rosè typologies;

•

10.5% for the Red typologies.

For the production of the "MALTESE ISLANDS" I.{.T. wines, with or

without a varietal mention, the Girgentina and {ellew\a grape varieties must

guarantee a minimum natural alcoholic strength of

•

9.5% for use in all wine typologies except the "Liqueur" wine typology.

Notwithstanding all the limits described above, the Director may however,

on the advice of the Wine Regulation Board and the interested producers’

organisations, from year to year, before the harvest, taking into account the climatic

conditions, establish limits of minimum natural alcoholic strengths which may be

0.5% less than those fixed above.

8.2

Minimum Total Alcoholic Strength of finished Wine ready for consumption.

For the production of the "MALTESE ISLANDS" I.{.T. wines, with or

without a varietal mention, the minimum Total Alcoholic Strength of finished wine

ready for consumption must be

•

10.5% for all the White and Rosè typologies;

•

0% for all the Red typologies except the {ellew\a monovarietal

typology;

•

10.5% for the {ellew\a mono-varietal typology.

Article 9 - Qualification.

9.1 With regards to labelling, designation and presentation of the wines referred

to in article 1, the use of any additional qualification which is not allowed by this

protocol is strictly forbidden. This includes the use of adjectives such as, but not

limited to, "extra", "fine", "superior" and "similar". Nevertheless the use of

indications which refer to names, business, private trade marks are permitted on

condition that they do not have a significance aimed at praising the product and that

they do not mislead the consumer.

Article 10 - General provision.

10.1 Community law shall apply in cases where this protocol does not explicitly

indicate otherwise.

ANNEX I

1:160000 scale map of the Maltese Islands demarcating the borders delimiting the

region of grape production falling under the {I "MALTESE ISLANDS" (with the

exclusion of the harbour area)

I{T WINES PRODUCTION PROTOCOLS

ANNEX II

Key of Local Councils

ANNEX III

Councils making up the Harbour Area