Grape Groups and Families - Native Wine Grapes of Italy - page 79

Collio malvasia, and Isonzo malvasia are most
famous. Carso malvasia is usually spectacularly
mineral and austere (indeed, it is probably the
most minerally-tasting wine of Italy), Collio
malvasia is the most refi ned and perfumed,
while Isonzo malvasia, due to the much warmer
microclimate, is rather high in alcohol (14.5-15
percent is not uncommon) and atypically full-
bodied. The little-known DOC Friuli Annia has
also recently produced promising Malvasia
Istriana wines. Nearly always, a good Malvasia
Istriana wine will offer aromas and fl avors of
honeyed peach, apricot, and pear, and mineral
overlays of varying intensity. The aromatic ones
have strong notes of ginger and white pepper.
Unfortunately, some Friuli Venezia Giulia pro-
ducers, mainly those of the Carso, have taken to
making malvasias with long macerations on
the skins, thereby producing wines that are
orange in color and very tannic; all too often,
wines made in this manner are also partly oxi-
dized. Needless to say, many wine geeks and
some fad-chasers have warmly embraced this
style of wine, but my own experience is that the
vast majority of wine lovers really don't like
these wines and don't understand what all the
fuss is about. Strange as it may seem to some
wine intellectuals, most people out there actu-
ally want their white wine to be . . . well, white.

Malvasia Moscata is the newest and the rar-
est of all the white-berried Malvasia s in Italy,
but it's apparently the most abundant one in
California, where it was planted by Piedmon-
tese immigrants and is simply, but erroneously,
called Malvasia Bianca. The latter is the name
of another Malvasia variety, typical of Puglia
and listed in the National Registry at number
129. Only recently rediscovered, Malvasia
Moscata's presence was cited in Piedmont
already in the early seventeenth century, as
Malvasia Nostrale, by Croce (1606). An aro-
matic variety, Malvasia Moscata is (errone-
ously) called Malvasia Bianca in the province of
Torino, where it is most common in the coun-
tryside around Albugnano and of the Pinero-
lese; it is also known as Malvasia Greca in the
Alessandrino, as Moscato Greco in the Asti-
giano and in the Monferrato Casalese, and as
Greco or Grec in the Roero (not to be confused
with the Greco of the Novara area, which is
Erbaluce, another native variety, or the Greco of
Campania, which has nothing to do with this
Malvasia ). Just about everywhere in Piedmont
it is also known as Moscatella, an obvious refer-
ence to its musky aroma and taste. In the
ampelography texts of the late nineteenth cen-
tury, when this Malvasia used to be locally very
abundant and important, it was honored with
the name of Malvasia Bianca del Piemonte.
However, as the Italian Ministry of Agriculture
does not allow place names by which to identify
grape varieties, when this variety was fi nally
offi cially listed in the National Registry on
March 23, 2012, the name Malvasia Moscata
was chosen.
In the late 1800s, cultivation of this variety
was completely devastated by oidium, and farm-
ers replanted with the more resistant Moscato
Bianco instead. Though Malvasia Moscata is
characterized by an obvious musky smell and
taste (as is the wine), it's easy to distinguish
from the much more common Moscato Bianco
thanks to its leaf (with a rare seven lobes and far
deeper indentations than those of Moscato
Bianco) and especially its bunch, which has
much bigger, round, thick-skinned berries.

wines to try: For Collio malvasia, try: Borgo
del Tiglio*** (this used to be very heavily
marked by new oak, but no longer, and the
wine is now even better), Alessandro Pas-
colo***, Doro Princic***, Dario Raccaro**
(often with a little residual sugar), Paolo Cac-
cese**, and Venica*. For Isonzo malvasia, try:
Ronco del Gelso*** (Vigna della Permuta), Vie
di Romans*** (Dessimis), and Drius**. For
Carso malvasia, try: Castelvecchio**, Zidar-
ich* *, Skerk* *, Castello di Rubbia*, and K ante*.
For Annia malvasia, try: Le Favole*.

Malvasia Moscata
where it's found: Piedmont. national reg-
istry code number: 462. color: white.