Our Story
San Niklaw Estate
San Niklaw is located in the South-East corner of Malta where roads from Zejtun, Marsaxlokk and Marsascala converge. At the centre of the estate lies a 17th century chapel dedicated to St Nicholas attached to a country residence. The estate is composed of vineyards, an olive grove and a boutique winery and underground cellar dating back to the late 19th century. The vineyards were established in 2005 with the sole aim of producing estate grown world class wines. The grape varieties were carefully chosen to obtain maximum expression within the context of our terroir in our quest to produce limited quantities of estate wines with an absolute inclination towards quality. The family owned property has been renovated to accommodate a new winery with modern facilities in order to achieve our goals. Further to the vineyard and winery operation, farming includes olive trees from which we produce a fruity olive oil. We are committed to the conservation of our land passed on to us by our forefathers and through respect, passion and hard work we strive in our pursuit of excellence in our estate wines.
From Our Roots to the Wine Glass
The philosophy at San Niklaw Estate is to produce hand crafted estate grown wines of premium quality while reflecting the local terroir.
Four estate wines are produced each year and these include Contrada ta Fangu, a Syrah based wine, Despatch, a Sangiovese based wine, Kappella San Nicola, a Mourvedre based wine and a Vermentino called Neptunus.
The grapes are entirely estate grown in order to ensure quality standards in the vineyard leading to optimal fruit: the estate employs a policy against purchasing of grapes from other vineyards. Harvest day is determined by a combination of berry sensory analysis and laboratory testing. Berries are handpicked and a primary selection occurs in the vineyard. Following transport to the winery, a secondary selection occurs in order to ensure that only optimal fruit enters the vinification process. A gentle crush is followed by delivery to stainless steel temperature controlled tanks that have been purposely chosen to enable vinification of small volumes reflecting vineyard parcels. The red wines are subsequently aged in French oak barriques for a minimum of 12 months in our underground cellar while the Vermentino Neptunus is ready for bottling the following spring after having been matured on its lees.
Olive oil
The Estate has an olive grove that is made up of more 400 olive trees. Among old indigenous trees there are other varieties which include Frantoio, Carolea, Coratina, Ascolano and Bella di Spagna. To ensure a quality product, harvesting is performed by hand around October time and production is commenced without delay on the farm utilising state of the art Italian equipment. The end product from the blend of varieties is a fresh fruity olive oil that, in common with our wines, expresses a unique character derived from our terroir.