The Black Label Wine
This legend takes us back many years, to a time when the area now known as San Ġwann was called l-Imsierah. In those days, a man named Mastru Felic Vella employed many workers, as he owned vast stretches of farmland where he cultivated vineyards.
Mastru Felic was highly skilled in working with grapes. He knew exactly how to grow and press them to produce fine wine of the highest quality.
At that time, l-Imsierah was almost entirely made up of agricultural land, and many residents were farmers. One day, Mastru Felic had a bold idea — he wanted to begin producing wine not only for himself but to share among the local farmers.
He recalled a large cave that he believed would be perfect to use as a space to press the grapes. It is said that this very cave lay beneath what is now the Parish Church of San Ġwann…
The Cave Beneath the Church
(A children’s poem inspired by “The Black Label Wine”)
Long ago in fields so wide,
Where goats would run and bees would hide,
There lived a man both kind and wise,
With grapevines growing toward the skies.
His name was Felic — strong and bright,
He worked the land from day to night.
With baskets full of grapes so sweet,
He dreamed of wine with finest treat.
He’d hum a tune, he’d stomp and press,
His hands were rough, but clean his dress.
“The farmers here,” he thought one day,
“Deserve some joy — hip hip hooray!”
He knew a cave, both cool and deep,
Where grapes could rest and gently sleep.
Beneath a hill, so calm, so still…
(It’s where the church stands on the hill!)
They say that cave is hidden now,
But still it lives, beneath the plough.
And if you listen close and clear,
You might just hear a “clink!” — oh dear!
A bottle rolls, a cork goes pop!
The grape juice dreams, it doesn’t stop.
And in the air, sweet scents may glide —
The spirit of Felic still walks with pride.
