Malta, The Azure Window

Valetta Harbour

New Year in Malta

30 December 2010 - 3 January 2011

For the past 18 years or more the Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours team have escorted a party of clients to wonderful parts of the wine world for New Year. These tours are to relax after the hard work of Christmas, enjoy some good food, a comfortable hotel, an interesting destination and of course, some great wine!

Over the years we have celebrated the New Year in the cellars of Champagne Ruinart, where 80 clients joined us to celebrate the Millennium; on a boat in Sydney Harbour (for the second Millennium!); in Vienna; in Barcelona; Seville; Lisbon; Siena;Turin and more.

This year, we have chosen Malta, a new destination for A&C (our 2010 wine cruise will also be visiting) and one that we feel will stand up to the best of any of the preceding New Year celebrations!
Lynette Arblaster, Tim Clarke and Cindy-Marie Harvey went out on a research trip recently and immediately agreed that this was going to be a great venue for our party! We stayed in the 5* Hotel Phoenicia in Valetta, which, with its spacious public rooms, intimate bar, and superb breakfast (one of the best we have had at any hotel anywhere in the world), will be a very comfortable base for our tour.

The extremely attractive town of Valetta, where the legacy of 268 years rule of the Knights of St John is much in evidence, is a very short stroll away. You’ll have time to visit the awe-inspiring 16th cathedral with its baroque architecture and original Caravaggio’s and the Barracca gardens which affords a stunning view of the Great Harbour. You’ll also be able to indulge in some shopping!

If you know nothing about the wines, or are surprised to hear that these wines are worthy of our interest – to be honest it was all (good) news to us too. We are looking forward to sharing our new found knowledge with you on this tour. There are a handful of dedicated wine producers striving to make world quality wines and mostly succeeding. We will taste wines from the four leading producers. You will recognise the grape varieties as the classic French varieties of Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot as well as Viognier and others.

We plan a series of tastings over dinners, lunches and visits to discover the wines of the following estates: Marsovin who produce a moreish sparkling wine as well as a stunning Passito from Shiraz; Meridiana, part Italian owned, and Camillieri whose wines particularly impressed us. Representatives from Camillieri joined us recently in London at our Wine Festival at Vintners Hall, and the queue to taste their wines was phenomenal – everyone in the hall was talking about them!

We’ll also spend a day on the unspoilt island of Gozo, which we will reach by coach and ferry but you can choose to take the short scenic sea plane if you prefer. Here the incredibly dynamic Joe Spiteri at Ta Mena wine estate hospitably welcomes us. We enjoy lunch and taste his wines and other produce from his farm, including the most densely flavoured tomato paste any of us have ever had the pleasure of tasting. We’ll also visit the “Azure Window” one of the loveliest natural features of the island.

We’ll also call in on the well preserved Mdina where there is time to explore the narrow winding streets lined with renaissance architecture all in the mellow golden stone that is typical of much of the island.

To welcome in the New Year, we will join the party at our Hotel, where there is a gala dinner and a live band to celebrate the arrival of 2011. New Years Day will be spent relaxing, or exploring Valetta. You could take a cruise within the Grand Harbour and across to the Three Cities, or stroll along the modern marina waterfront or simply relax at the hotel. As average day time temperatures in December are recorded as between 18 – 20 degrees and with an average of 5 hours of sunshine – the weather might just be that bit better than at home.

We hope you can join us on this year’s New Year Wine Holiday!