Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Ta' Mena Vineyard visit

This is Joe, he is the one we were looking for. We had a lovely time asking him about how he got into making wine, ask him if you ever go to Ta' Mena.
This is George, he thinks he is a person.
One of the crazy farm dogs, he kept licking the grapes.









They are very proud of all of the products they make, but special pride is taken in this hand made Strawberry Jam.



When my brother and sister were here last month, we took a day trip up to Gozo. At the Northern tip of Malta is a small little island called Gozo. It's a much slower pace up there and because it's so small you can see much of it in a day. We had been told by a friend of my brothers, that we needed to go to the vineyard in Gozo... We weren't totally sure where to find it so we started asking around... We knew that the owner was named "Joe" and that they had baby goats... It wasn't much to go on but we were hopeful.
We stopped for ice cream as you do in Malta, cause it was SO hot. My brother asked the girl serving us ice cream if she knew of a vineyard with a guy named "Joe" and some baby goats.... I was thinking yah of course she knows someone named Joe, everyone in Malta is named Joe! But sure enough she knew THE Joe we were looking for... and she happily pointed us in the right direction....

When we got to Ta' Mena Estate, Joe's wife greeted us and made us feel right at home. She asked us if we were hungry and thirsty, which we were... she then proceeded to serve us a home made tomato paste on Maltese crackers slathered in their own incredible olive oil!!! It was divine, a small slice of heaven on earth Then we started tasting the wines.... They were awesome, My sis, bro, and I each had a different  favorite. We ended up taking home one of each of the ones we liked!

If you ever visit Gozo please say hi to Joe and his wife, and try their wines and all of their other goodies... You won't be disappointed. They are located on the Rabat Road  Xaghra – XRA 9010, Isle of Gozo, Malta On your way from Victoria to Marsalforn, on the right side of the road, you can't miss it!

5 comments:

  1. the words 'free tasting' - i love.
    When can you take your husband here?????!
    Also... we must get more of their amazing tomato paste! xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so much for your kind words. I'm Joe's daughter and I'm glad you guys had fun and enjoyed your visit :)

    Hope to see you again very soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sadly we are now far away in the UK, but always enjoyed our visits to Ta' Mena, did you see my other post about your lovely farm on my blog, you can find it here....http://mimi-creates.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/ta-mena-part-deu.html
    We still have a jar of your lush tomato paste, we may have to order some more when we finish it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the heads up, I hadn't seen it.
    Your pictures are amazing, very well done and Thank You for everything.

    I hope you don't mind us sharing your blog on our facebook page.

    Thanks again

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi everyone. All those lovely Ta'Mena products you are talking about are now available in the UK from Mediterranean Delights. We are stocking most of their products right now. Thanks & hope to see you soon. www.med-delights.co.uk

    ReplyDelete