Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Malvasia Bianca di Candia
vines those enthusiastic locals believed were
authentic Malvasia Rossa looked very similar to
the Candia variety, and others very different, so
I'm not sure what to think. Since I have been
unable to fi nd someone who makes a suppos-
edly 100 percent Malvasia Rossa wine, I also
can't say if it tastes different, better or worse,
from a monovarietal Malvasia Bianca di Candia
wine. Then again, it wouldn't take much for it
to be better, so it might not be a bad thing if a
distinct Malvasia Rossa existed after all.
Though it's possible that there are rickety old
vines of a true Malvasia Rossa surviving in the
hodge-podge of promiscuous plantings that are
many vineyards of the Castelli Romani, I am
not sure they exist.
Ampelographically, the variety's appearance
depends on which clone you look at, but in gen-
eral Malvasia Bianca di Candia has a conical
grape bunch, and both the bunch and the ber-
ries are large. The berries also have thin skins,
unlike those of Malvasia di Candia Aromatica,
which have thick skins. In an interesting recent
study, four biotypes named AA, A, B, and AB
were described thanks to ampelographic and
ampelometric analysis (Meneghetti, Poljuha,
Frare, Costacurta, Morreale, Bavaresco, and
Calò 2012). All biotypes differed on the basis of
berry and bunch sizes. AFLP, M-AFLP, and
SAMPL molecular marker studies were per-
formed to analyze intravarietal genetic variabil-
ity. Interestingly, cluster analyses showed a cor-
relation between molecular profile and
morphological traits of bunches. For example,
biotype B (smaller fruit size) was clearly differ-
entiated from the remaining biotypes not just
on ampelographic grounds but on a molecular
basis as well.
Malvasia Bianca di Candia is most abundant
in Lazio, though it is also found in Emilia-
Romagna, Umbria, Tuscany, Marche, and Cam-
pania. At roughly 8,637 hectares it is in fact the
most abundantly planted
Malvasia
in Italy, and
is weathering the push for quality well, since
plantings were reportedly down only 1.7 percent
between 2000 and 2010. Actually, I would have
thought that producers would have done away
where it's found:
Lazio, Campania, Emilia-
Romagna, Marche, Puglia, Tuscany, Umbria.
national registry code number:
131.
color:
white.
Apparently the Venetians, looking for ways
to increase the production volumes of a wine
that sold extremely well, planted their generic
Malvasia
vines on the island of Crete (and many
other islands as well: a document attests that
Malvasia
was planted near the town of Caiesa as
early as 1363). Candia is the ancient Latin name
for Crete, hence this variety's name. According
to Lacombe, Boursiquot, Laoucou, Dechesne,
Varès, and This (2007), Malvasia Bianca di
Candia is a genetically distinct grape variety,
unrelated to the similarly named Malvasia di
Candia Aromatica (the latter is not simply the
result of an aromatic mutation). Instead, Malva-
sia Bianca di Candia is closely related to the red-
berried Malvasia di Casorzo. In a landmark
work by Crespan, Crespan, Giannetto,
Meneghetto, and Costacurta (2007), Malvasia
Bianca di Candia has been shown to be a prog-
eny of Garganega, the famous grape with which
Soave is made. Though its other parent remains
unknown, this fi nding also tells us that the
variety is either a grandparent or half-sibling of
Garganega's many progenies: Albana, Cataratto
Bianco, Dorona, Marzemina Bianca, Montonico
Bianco, Mostosa, Susumaniello, and Trebbiano
Tosc a no.
At times, Malvasia Bianca di Candia is
called Malvasia Rossa, not because of the color
of its berries or wine, but because its apical
buds (not its shoots, as has been erroneously
written elsewhere) are intensely red. Of course,
this wouldn't be Italy if wine producers and
farmers of Lazio hadn't told me over the years
that Malvasia Rossa is actually an altogether
different variety (apparently reduced to only a
few old vines in mainly abandoned vineyards).
Were that true, using “Malvasia Rossa” as a
synonym for Malvasia Bianca di Candia would
be a mistake, but there's no genetic proof to
back up such a statement. To me, some of the
