Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
more than 10 percent of the blend. Fortunately,
legislators and producers have seen the error of
their ways and the legal guidelines for making
Frascati and Frascati Cannellino (the light-
bodied, delicately sweet version of Frascati)
were changed in 2011. Both these wines can
now be made with a 70 percent minimum of
Malvasia del Lazio and/or Malvasia Bianca di
Candia and up to 30 percent Trebbiano Toscano,
Trebbiano Giallo, Bombino Bianco, Bellone,
and other varieties (of which up to 15 percent
can be other varieties still, such as the interna-
tional grapes). Though I think way too much
Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc still fi nd
their way into Frascati wines, the current
guidelines are a big improvement on the joke
they once were.
So the wind has changed, and Malvasia del
Lazio is now attracting considerable attention.
In some cases too much, as for a while, in the
middle of the fi rst decade of the twenty-fi rst
century, when the grape got hot, it appeared
that estates all over Lazio were making Malva-
sia del Lazio wines almost overnight. These
considerations aside, I have always believed
Malvasia del Lazio to be one of Italy's greatest
white grape varieties. Back in 2001, I insisted to
a few quality-minded Lazio producers (Pallavi-
cini, Casale Pilozzo, Conte Zandotti) that it was
a huge mistake to label their wines, which were
much better than the regional average, simply
as “malvasia”: since both Malvasia Bianca di
Candia and Malvasia del Lazio grow in the
region, generically writing “malvasia” on the
label wasn't telling consumers much. Further-
more, as Malvasia Bianca di Candia is also a
Lazio inhabitant, writing “Malvasia del Lazio”
on the label was not necessarily a solution
either, since the potential for misunderstand-
ing was great. And so a number of wines were
either renamed “malvasia puntinata” (Pallavi-
cini), or at least the latter name began appear-
ing regularly on back labels, where an attempt
was made to explain the uniqueness of the
wine. Caveat emptor, though: not all the wines
now sporting Malvasia del Lazio on the label
remind me of the variety at all. In other words,
if you want to taste the real thing, you need to
know a little something about the producer.
The variety is a pretty grape to look at, with
medium-large, pyramidal, stocky bunches with
medium-small, round berries fl attened at the
extremities and covered with the brown dots
that give the variety its name. When fully ripe,
the grapes really do look like they have been hit
by measles. Malvasia del Lazio can easily
become overripe and drop its total acidity lev-
els, so care must be taken to time the harvest
right. It is also characterized by medium-low
vigor and is prone to both oidium and botrytis
bunch rot. Its low productivity was such that
when I visited the enological school at Velletri
back in 2001 or 2002, they where happy to
show me their experimentations with training
systems and pruning methods aimed at dem-
onstrating that even Malvasia del Lazio, always
thought to be a miserly producer, could have
outputs of 180 hectoliters per hectare. And they
were happy about this! Currently, there are no
offi cial clones available.
In Lacombe, Boursiquot, Laoucou,
Dechesne, Varès, and This (2007), Malvasia
Puntinata is shown to be the result of a natural
crossing between Moscato d'Alessandria and
Schiava Grossa, who are also the parents of
Moscato d'Amburgo (a table grape, in Italy).
This means Malvasia del Lazio and Moscato
d'Amburgo are siblings, and it explains the
lightly aromatic character of the Lazian
Malva-
sia.
Some producers insist the variety is not
aromatic, but lack of aromatic character is most
likely a function of their yields: when over-
cropped, this variety loses its delicately aro-
matic quality. Most of the best vineyards are
located close to Rome, including Colle Mattia,
the hills of Monteporzio Catone, and the slope
along the via Anagnina at Grottaferrata. At
close to three thousand hectares, Malvasia del
Lazio is more abundant than was once believed.
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Wines made with Malvasia del Lazio include
DOCG Frascati and Frascati Cannellino; DOC
wines such as Castelli Romani, Colli Albani,
