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Mal(vasia) Be There For You/
When The Rain Starts To Pour
Mal(vasia) Be There For You/
Like It’s Been There Before
Hey, how YOU doin’? Come on, that’s just fun to say. Sort of like how Joey could make any phrase in the English language sound smutty. Grandma’s chicken salad. Aww yeah!
Anyway, this week’s Forgotten Grape reminds us quite a bit of the soft-hearted lunkhead who graced our TV screens every Thursday at 8 for eleven years (yes, we know it was longer than that, but the less said about the Joey spin-off the better). Both Joey and Malvasia are defiantly Italian and wear it on their respective sleeves (though in reality, both Matt LeBlanc and the grape aren’t FBI’s – full-blooded Italians: LeBlanc’s father is French, and ampelographers – your new word for the day, it means scientists concerned with discovering the origins of grapevines – have traced Malvasia’s root back to ancient Greece). We mentioned the different aliases both possess (Dr. Drake Ramoray and joe Stalin for Joey; “Malvazia” and “Malmsey” for Malvasia – more on this later). Malvasia Bianca can be made into everything from light, sweet wines to more full-bodied, drier white
wines, while Joey has shown us he has the ability to cry on cue and can spend all day acting in a freezing cold shower if it means a national commercial spot. Also the sisters, the sisters – both of them have a ton. Joey has seven: Mary Theresa, Mary Angela, Dina, Tina, Gina, Veronica, and Cookie. Malvasia Bianca has...a lot more than seven! And they all seem to have the word Malvasia somewhere in their name. We’ll try to give you a primer on the most notable sister grapes down below.
But most importantly, both Joey and Malvasia Bianca are just fun to be around. They both smell nice, they’re both big softies with a lot of gusto and pizzazz to them, and there’s a reason why Chandler continued to live with the guy into his 30’s (and why Trebbiano – also known as Ugni Blanc – is often paired up with Malvasia in zesty, fruity Italian whites). Malvasia Bianca is simply an easygoing white wine that has a lot of fun in whatever it does, doesn’t take itself too seriously, and puts all of itself into whatever it becomes. Like a struggling actor in New York, it’s just looking for that one big break to endear itself into the heart, minds, and palates of the world, and we’re here to syndicate this grape like no one else’s business. So no one told you life was going to be this way? You’re job’s a joke, you’re broke, you’re love life’s D.O.A.? The solution to all of that is
a bottle of this week’s Forgotten Grape, MALVASIA BIANCA. How YOU doin’, indeed!
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What It Looks Like, What It Smells Like, and What It Tastes Like
Malvasia Bianca looks like:
Malvasia Bianca smells like:
Malvasia Bianca tastes like:
Similar to Semillons and Sauvignon Blancs, you’ll find many of the same tropical fruit notes on a Malvasia Bianca, but with one noticeable difference: Malvasias have a very distinctive perfumed scent to them. Lots of floral scents such as hibiscus and hyssop, and even some more herbal or vegetal scents, such as green olive. Sniffing a glass of Malvasia Bianca can be equated to walking through a citrus orchard just as the trees are launching into bloom. Lots of fragrant but not overpowering or cloying floral and tropical aromas.
The flavor of a Malvasia Bianca will often depend on the amount of residual sugar left in the wine. More sugar left post-fermentation will result in slightly sweeter Malvasias, while little to no residual sugar means, you guessed it, dryer and crisper wines. Flavor-wise, Malvasias will have lots of the same tropical and citrus flavors smelled earlier: papaya, guava, some pineapple, regular apple, maybe some tangerine as well. The wines often have a very soft, sometimes even slightly viscous or oily mouth feel to them, and they can finish very long, sometimes with a bit of rind-like bite on the back end. Either way, these are very easy going wines that drink very smoothly and can flexibly handle lots of different flavors, as you’ll see below.
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• There are two competing schools of though when it comes to where Malvasia grapes actually got their name. One side believes that the name “Malvasia” is derived from the Venetian coastal fortress of Monemvasia, which sat on a small island in the southernmost Laconia region of Greece’s Peloponnesian peninsula. Monemvasia, which the early Italians living in the fortress pronounced “Malvasia,” was a central trading hub for the Venetians around the Peloponnesus and Greek Isles, primarily for Malvasia wine in and around the region. In fact, the early Venetians were so prolific in their distribution of Malvasia that wine shops in Venice during the middle Ages were referred to as “malvasie.”
The opposing theory is that the name “Malvasia” is descended not from the Venetian port on the Peloponnesus, but rather from the Malevizi region of Crete, located near the town of Heraklion. Adding weight to this theory is the fact that a major sub-species of the Malvasia grape is called Malvasia di Candia, which means Malvasia from Crete (“Candia” is the Italian name for the Greek island of Crete). Dispelling this theory is the fact that outside of some trace DNA, Malvasia di Candia is almost an entirely different variety of grape than other Malvasias. Either way, and whichever theory you choose to be correct, there is no denying that Malvasia has its origins in Greece but has become better known as an Italian varietal (though as you’ll see, that’s certainly not the only place in the world where it is grown).
• Like Joey’s sisters, off-shoots and sister varietals of Malvasia have sprung up all over the world, in more countries than you can count. And these different varieties of Malvasia produce just as many different kinds of wine as you can think of. The crazy thing is, though, each variety always seems to carry the Malvasia name along with it. For example, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy, Malvasia Istriana is used to make dry white varietal wines in the Collio and Isonzo DOCs, but in the Colli Piacentini region, Malvasia Istriana is used to produce a sparkling wine called champagnino or “little champagne.” Meanwhile, Malvasia di Grottaferrata, Malvasia di Bosa and Malvasia di Planurgia are all used to produce the once-popular passito style dessert wines of Lazio and Sardinia, respectively, while Malvasia delle Lipari is used to make orange-flavored dessert wines in the islands just off the coast of Sicily. Malvasia Nera is a red version of Malvasia made into varietal wines in Piedmont (though only two DOCs and less than 250 acres are devoted to these wines) and is used as a red blending grape in Tuscany, Calabria, Alto Adiage, and other Italian wine regions. We touched on Malvasia di Candia earlier; it’s grown almost exclusively in the Lazio region near Rome and is used as a blending grape, though sister varieties Malvasia Puntinata and Malvasia di Lazio are for more popular for blending, as they have more acidity and less alcohol, producing less flabby wines.
We haven’t even gotten to Portugal yet...(deep breath). There are more than twelve different varieties of Malvasia in Portugal, some of which may be true off-shoots and some of which may just be imposters. Malvasia Fina is sometimes called Boal (not to confused with Bual, which is a grape used to make the Bual variety of Madeira, which is often called Malmsey, which is another name for Malvasia...confused yet?), is found in the Douro region of Portugal, and is used to make white Port. Malvasia Candida (not to be confused with Malvasia di Candia) is more commonly referred to as Malmsey and is used to make Malmsey Madeiras (okay, now there’s no way you’re not confused). Malvasia Rei is grown in Spain and used in Sherry making. Malvasia Corada is an obscure white grape also known in the Douro as Vital, while Malvasia da Trincheira is also called Folgasao and is used to make white Port (but should not be confused with Malvasia Fina. You can also find Malvasia in Germany under the name Malvasier, and in Hungary under the name Malvazija or Malvazia, and we haven’t even mentioned that it’s also grown in California, Australia, and Brazil...you know what, we’re just going to stop here. Our heads hurt and we don’t think you or we can take any more. Let’s just move
on to the next section, shall we?
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Fun Facts to Impress/Bore People At Parties
From Brein’s Brain to Your Plate
“So for some reason, I always think of Malvasia Bianca as just this super-easy, totally laid back kind of wine that you’d either drink on a little beach cove off the Adriatic somewhere in Italy, or else in a slightly grungy dive beach bar in Florida or the Caribbean or somewhere. Don’t ask me why, that’s just what comes to mind when I sip Malvasia. So with that in mind, I’m thinking some fun bar food with this wine. First would be frickles. Ever had frickles? Don’t know what they are? They’re deep fried pickles. A total southern delicacy. But they really work with a Malvasia. The perfume in the wine will mesh well with the hot grease smell, and the nice softer citrus in the wine will actually tone down the sharper bite of the pickles. Make sure you eat your frickles with a really cool, creamy dipping sauce, too. Like a ranch. That will actually compliment the wine as well.”
“Next up, something not as greasy but still deep-fried: sweet potato chips. But you’ve got to do them in a very special, particular way. Make sure you slice your chips super, super thin, so that they get nice and crispy but still have enough width in them that they don’t crumble when you touch them. Then, when they are just out of the fryer and haven’t cooled yet, sprinkle them down with equal parts salt and sugar, and then half of that amount Chinese five spice. I know that sounds like a crazy combination, but trust me on this. It’s really going to bring out the sweetness and earthiness of the potato, and the sharper citrus and acid notes will play off against the salty, sweet, and savory flavors. It’s almost like you get all five tastes together in one. Actually, if you try the frickles in between and have a Malvasia that has a bit of an aftertaste, then you will!”
“Alright, so if you’ve got a Malvasia that has a little more sweetness to it, pair it with a slice of key lime pie. Lots of similar flavors going on there, but these two things should nicely compliment each other. And if you are drinking a Malvasia in a dive beach bar in Florida, then it’s going to be really easy to find! Italy might be a bit tougher, though.”
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Chef Brein Clements is the chef/owner of Restaurant Omakase in Riverside, CA, which
is quickly becoming SoCal’s answer to El Bulli. Minus the molecular gastronomy. He
began his cooking career at Domaine Chandon in the Napa Valley and moved on to become
Chef de Cuisine at the famed Balboa Bay Club before opening his own restaurant. Plus
he’s only 28. My man knows his wine and he knows his food. Each week he’ll provide
ingredient and dish recommendations that match up well with the week’s forgotten
grape. You should heed what he says. No, seriously, heed it.
2008 Wild Horse San Bernabe Malvasia Bianca
Don’t forget: Wild Horse is offering all ForgottenGrapes.com readers 15% off any
wine they buy through the online Wild Horse Wine Store. Just use the code FGWH1509
when ordering to get your discount. And the code is good for any Wild Horse wines
through August 6th. You can even use the code to pick up a bottle of this lovely
white. Yes we know the label is from their 2006 but we tried the 2008 and it was
delightful. Lots of perfume on the nose along with light, light tropical fruit. Not
surprisingly, it had a very similar nose to the Ken Volk wine that was sourced from
the same vineyard. Flavor-wise, though, it was decidedly different: more citrus flavors
here, though it was still a very light wine with good balanced acids. The aftertaste,
though, was a little bitter for our palates. It had a bit of a medicinal quality
to it. But still a highly enjoyable wine. Get yours directly from the Wild Horse
wine store and use the 15% off code we gave you, silly.
2007 Kenneth Volk Vineyards San Bernabe Malvasia Bianca
Because we know you’re wondering, the San Bernabe vineyard is in southern Monterey
County here in California. And yes, for the second straight week, a Wild Horse wine
and a Kenneth Volk wine are sourced from the same vineyard. Almost makes you think
there’s some connection between the two (snicker!).
Volk’s Malvasia Bianca is paler and greener than the Wild Horse, but just as perfumed,
although this wine’s perfume is less tropical and citrus in nature and more herbal
and floral. The taste was heavy on apple, and this wine had a much more viscous mouth
feel than the others, much more oily, but in a pleasant way. This might be because
of the age of the wine (a year older than the other two) or just the way Ken makes
the wine.
Speaking of what Ken makes, your complaints have been heard and the Negrette has
been added to the order form on the Kenneth Volk Vineyards website. The Malvasia
in on there too (both listed under the “Heirloom Wines”. Definitely order some today.
You can also order old-school-style and call the winery directly at 805-938-7896
or less-old-school e-mail them at info@volkwines.com.
Our Friend of the Forgotten Grapes Tasting Squadron tastes all of the wines you see
here ahead of time to ensure that you aren’t getting anything rotten or clunky. We
also try to ensure that most of the wines highlighted here are affordably priced
($20 or less) so you can try them out for yourself without having to take out a second
mortgage or sacrificing your kid (or future kid’s) college fund to do so. Lastly,
the Friends of the Forgotten Grapes has relationships with all the fine wine purveyors
we link to in this section. We know them, we trust them. You can order these wines
from them online right now and be trying them out in the next couple of days. Do
yourself a favor and order from them by using the links below. It’s totally worth
it. And tell them that ForgottenGrapes.com sent you, too.
We’ve had a lot of pale white wines featured here on Forgotten Grapes recently, and Malvasia is another one to toss onto the pile. Giving off a pale straw color that in many cases looks light-ish green, these are young, fresh wines without a lot of time on their skins and with hardly any time spent in oak.
2008 Ballentine St. Helena Betty’s Vineyard Estate Grown Malvasia Bianca
Our old Friends Van and Betty Ballentine are up to their old tricks again, working
with more Forgotten Grapes up there in the Napa Valley to produce some truly remarkable
and benchmark varietal wines. This 2008 edition of their Malvasia Bianca is a perfect
example. A very Sauvignon Blanc nose with the trademark Malvasia florals, the tropical
fruits, and just a hint of grassiness. It was a much drier nose than the other wines,
with hints of green olive in there as well. Lots of apple and tangerine on the palate
and a nice long finish as well. You can also buy this wine directly from the Ballentine
Vineyards website, and we wholeheartedly recommend picking up all three Malvasia
Biancas and commencing your own little crash course in what this interesting yet
unfettered varietal
is all about.
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Go On. Try It. You’ll Like It. 
