The European Union’s smallest state is also the world’s smallest independent wine-producing country: Malta, with its sister island, Gozo, a speck in the middle of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia, north of Libya and on the same latitude as Crete, has less than 2,000 acres of vines. Peru and Japan each make more wine. But Malta, one of the fastest growing economies in the EU, has a tiny but burgeoning wine production that is attracting the interest of French and Italian investors, including the venerable Tuscan house, Antinori, famed for its Chianti.

Many of the most familiar grapes are grown on Malta and Gozo, but they also boast two indigenous varieties; Girgentina, for white, and red-skinned Gellewza, for reds and rosés. Both display the characteristics you would associate with coastal wines – given its size and location, everywhere on Malta is effectively coastal. The islands enjoy high temperatures in summer and moderate, but never cold and only slightly humid conditions during the rest of the year.