Malvasia del Lazio

Malvasia del Lazio is, in D’Agata’s view, one of Italy’s greatest white grape varieties, and the reason nobody knows it is that Lazio spent the twentieth century growing something else. Frascati and the Castelli Romani wines were built on Malvasia Bianca di Candia and Trebbiano Toscano because they yielded more, and a better grape was pushed to the margins of its own homeland.

The grape with measles It is also called Malvasia Puntinata, from puntinata, speckled, because the ripe berries are covered in rusty brown dots. The bunches are medium-large, pyramidal and stocky, with medium-small round berries flattened at the ends, and when fully ripe the fruit genuinely looks as though it has come down with something. It is a handsome vine.

What the rules did Until recently, Frascati, Marino and the other Castelli Romani wines were legally required to contain at least 70 per cent Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia Bianca di Candia, two of the least promising grapes anyone could choose for quality dry wine. The same legislation capped Bellone and Bombino Bianco, both better, at 10 per cent. The guidelines were rewritten in 2011, and Frascati and Frascati Cannellino can now be made from a minimum 70 per cent Malvasia del Lazio and/or Malvasia Bianca di Candia, with up to 30 per cent of other varieties.

Its parentage Malvasia Puntinata was shown in 2007 to be a natural crossing of Moscato d’Alessandria and Schiava Grossa, the same pairing that produced the table grape Moscato d’Amburgo, making the two siblings. That parentage explains the variety’s lightly aromatic character. Some producers insist it is not aromatic at all, which most likely reflects their yields: overcropped, the grape loses its delicate perfume entirely.

In the vineyard The variety has medium-low vigour and is prone to both oidium and botrytis bunch rot. It overripens easily and sheds acidity fast, so picking date matters more than usual. Its reputation as a miserly producer was such that when D’Agata visited the oenological school at Velletri in the early 2000s, staff proudly demonstrated training and pruning trials showing that even Malvasia del Lazio could be pushed to 180 hectolitres per hectare. No official clones exist.

Where it grows The best sites sit close to Rome: Colle Mattia, the hills of Monteporzio Catone and the slope along the via Anagnina at Grottaferrata. At close to three thousand hectares, there is considerably more of it than was once thought. The Castelli Romani remain its heartland.

Appearance and structure Good Malvasia del Lazio is bright and dry with a distinctive creamy, almost resiny fleshiness that wines made from Malvasia Bianca di Candia never possess. That texture is the surest way to tell the two apart in the glass. The acidity, where the fruit was picked at the right moment, is firm enough to carry the weight.

Aromatic profile Sage and ripe yellow fruit form the core, with the aromatic lift inherited from its Moscato parent showing as a delicate perfume rather than anything overt. A caution applies: not every wine now labelled Malvasia del Lazio tastes remotely like the variety, so the producer’s name matters. The label itself has been a problem, since writing simply malvasia tells a buyer nothing when both Malvasias grow in the region.

In the cellar It appears in DOCG Frascati and Frascati Cannellino, in DOC Castelli Romani, Colli Albani, Marino and Colli Lanuvini, and in various IGTs. Monovarietal wines remain rare. The grape takes remarkably well to noble rot, and nobly rotten late-harvest or air-dried versions have ranked among the finest sweet wines Italy has produced: thick and creamy with refreshing acidity, showing ripe peach, mango, banana and passionfruit.

Key expressions

• Monovarietal bottlings, often labelled Malvasia Puntinata to avoid confusion.
• Frascati and Frascati Cannellino made under the revised 2011 rules.
• Botrytised late-harvest and air-dried sweet wines, the grape’s summit.
• Wines from the historic sites at Colle Mattia, Monteporzio Catone and Grottaferrata.

The question of aging The dry wines hold five to eight years well, the resiny texture deepening while the sage note turns more savoury, and the best examples go further. The sweet wines are in another class entirely and will last decades. That so few people have tested this is a consequence of how little serious Malvasia del Lazio has been made.

At the table The creamy texture and acidity handle the fuller Roman dishes, from carbonara and gricia to roast pork, artichokes and pecorino. The sweet versions belong with blue cheese and fruit-based desserts rather than chocolate. Serve the dry wines around ten to twelve degrees.

Why it matters Lazio’s poor reputation was a legislative achievement as much as an agricultural one, and Malvasia del Lazio is the evidence. The region had a first-rate white grape the whole time and wrote rules that guaranteed it would be outvoted in its own appellations. The rules changed in 2011; as D’Agata puts it, the problem here is the producers, not the grape.