Marsovin Cellars - Historic Wine Vaults

Malta's historic winery offers tours through 400-year-old cellars dating to the Knights of St. John, where 220 oak barrels age premium wines. The 75-90 minute tour includes 4-6 wines tasted in atmospheric underground vaults.

What to do there

4 things to do

1. 1 Stand Where the Knights Stacked Their Ship Timber History · Free

   The exterior of Marsovin's winery is a 17th-century Knights of St. John building that stored timber for the Mediterranean's most feared warships — visible and free to observe any time.

   You're standing in front of one of Malta's most unassuming layers of history at this stone building on Wills Street, Marsa. This was constructed by the Order of the Knights of St. John in the 17th century — not as a winery, but as a timber warehouse for their shipbuilding fleet. The very same stone walls that now shelter 220 oak wine barrels and 100,000 aging bottles once stacked the wood that became the warships that blocked the Ottoman fleet. Look at the stonework — Malta's traditional limestone (globigerina, locally called 'franka') is soft when quarried and hardens to near-marble over centuries. This humble stone has survived two World Wars, including the worst aerial bombardment of WWII when founder Anthony Cassar continued delivering wine by horse-cart across this island.

   Backup: If you can't locate the exact Wills Street building, navigate to Marsa industrial area and look for any signage for Marsovin — the winery shop (Mon-Fri 9-17, Sat 10-13) is accessible without a tour booking.

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2. 2 Descend Into the 400-Year-Old Ageing Cellars History · Price: moderate

   The 75-90 minute tour descends underground past 220 French oak barriques and the riddling rack where Malta's only Methode Traditionnelle sparkling wine is being hand-turned daily.

   Walk through the 400-year-old ageing vault where 220 French oak barriques hold Grand Maître and the 1919 Red for 12+ months, then reach the riddling rack — a wooden frame of angled holes where Malta's only Brut sparkling wine (Cassar de Malte, 100% Chardonnay from Wardija Valley, ~€30 retail) is being hand-turned daily at Marsovin Winery (Wills Street, Marsa, PLA 2234). This is the only bottle in Malta becoming a Methode Traditionnelle sparkling — an island that the world doesn't associate with bubbles, quietly doing it properly, in a Knights' vault. Ask your guide to pause at the riddling rack and ask: 'How many turns per day?' Then ask: 'What did the Knights store here before wine?' The answer — shipbuilding timber — reframes the entire underground space. Tours run Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:30 ONLY with pre-booking: +356 7923 1919 or cellars@marsovinwinery.com.

   Backup: If the Tuesday/Thursday tour is full, the winery shop is open Mon-Fri 9:00-17:00 and Sat 10:00-13:00 without booking — you can purchase wines and see the cellar entrance. But the underground tour is why you came.

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3. 3 Taste the Grape the Arabs Ate as a Hazelnut Wine · Price: moderate

   In the underground wine bar, you'll taste the only two grape varieties native to Malta — both on the Slow Food Ark of Taste as endangered heritage foods, both brought here by Phoenician traders 2,700 years ago.

   Malta has exactly two indigenous grape varieties on Earth — Gellewza (red) and Girgentina (white), both on the Slow Food Ark of Taste as endangered heritage foods. Here's what nobody puts on the label: when the Arabs conquered Malta in 870 CE, they banned wine for over 200 years. The only grapes that survived were ones eaten as table fruit — the Arabs tasted the red grape and named it 'hazelnut' in Arabic: Gellewza. For two centuries, the Phoenician wine grape survived disguised as a snack, carrying an Arab name. You'll taste this underground wine bar within the cellar at the end of your guided tour, paired with Maltese bread, gbejniet (sheep's milk cheese) and local savouries. Ask specifically for the 1919 Red (Gellewza + Merlot, named for the founding year) and tell someone the hazelnut story.

   Backup: If the 1919 Red is unavailable, request any wine featuring Gellewza or Girgentina as primary variety — the hazelnut survival story is the same regardless of producer or label.

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4. 4 Decode Which Grand Master Is On Your Bottle History · Price: high · Optional

   Grand Maître is produced under exclusive appointment of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta — each vintage honors a different Knight Grand Master in chronological order.

   Grand Maître (Cabernet Sauvignon + Cabernet Franc from Ghajn Rihana — 1.6 hectares, 14,000 vines) is made under exclusive appointment of the Maltese Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta — the direct successor to the Knights who built this cellar. Each vintage dedicates the wine to a different Grand Master in chronological sequence, and the 2022 bottle honors a specific 16th-century Grand Master whose portrait likely hangs in Valletta's Grand Master's Palace. At the winery shop or wine bar, ask the guide or staff: 'Which Grand Master does this vintage honor?' They will know the name — look him up, buy the bottle (retail Malta ~€52), and you've bought a historical person, aged in the building his Order constructed.

   Backup: If Grand Maître is beyond budget (€52), the 1919 Red (~€25 retail) carries the annual commissioned artwork label and the founding-year story. The Cassar de Malte sparkling (~€30) is Malta's only Brut — equally singular as a bottle to take home.

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Insider tips

• Tours on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:30, pre-booking required

• The Marsovin Experience costs 60 EUR per person

• The cellars maintain perfect temperature naturally