Malvasia di Candia Aromatica
The aromatic Malvasia of Emilia — a distinct variety from the neutral Malvasia di Candia.
Malvasia di Candia Aromatica is a grape variety most associated in Italy with Colli di Parma, Colli di Scandiano e di Canossa, Colli Piacentini and Ortrugo dei Colli Piacentini.
Malvasia di Candia Aromatica is completely distinct from the far more widely planted Malvasia Bianca di Candia, which is not aromatic at all, and the difference in quality is not subtle. It was once called Malvasia a Sapore di Moscato, the Malvasia that tastes like a Moscato, which is the most useful description anyone has given it.
Origins and history The Venetians took cuttings from the port of Monemvasia and propagated them widely, and those cuttings were not all of one variety. Some of the vines planted on Crete turned out to give aromatic wine, which is the origin of the centuries-old distinction between an aromatic Malvasia di Candia and an ordinary, non-aromatic one. Malvasia di Alessandria is another name it has carried.
Telling the two apart The vines look different. Malvasia di Candia Aromatica has a long, pyramidal, loosely packed bunch, with both bunch and berries medium-small, and crucially its berries have thick skins where Malvasia Bianca di Candia’s are thin. That skin difference is not cosmetic: it is where the aromatic compounds sit, and it explains much of the gap between the two wines.
In the vineyard Four clones became available between 1988 and 2002: PC MACA 62, PC MACA 66, PC MACA 68 and VCR 27. The first two give wines of higher total acidity and are often chosen for sparkling production. VCR 27 suits still aromatic whites, accumulates sugar more readily and, unlike the other three, does not suffer from dissection of the bunch stem. Close to two thousand hectares are planted in total.
Where it grows The variety is characteristic of the Emilia half of Emilia-Romagna, particularly the Colli Piacentini, and is also grown in Lombardy and Lazio. In the Colli Piacentini, Colli di Parma and Colli di Scandiano e Canossa DOCs it may be made as a 100 per cent varietal wine, which is where its real character shows. It also appears in Oltrepò Pavese blends and various IGTs.
Appearance and structure The dry wines are never particularly fleshy, and that is worth knowing before opening one. What they offer instead is freshness and liveliness, noticeably more than most aromatic whites manage, since aromatic varieties so often trade energy for perfume. D’Agata is candid that the dry wines can lack the palate complexity a genuinely noble variety would show.
Aromatic profile Spice and tropical fruit lead, in a register that never reaches the intensity of Moscato Bianco or Gewürztraminer. That restraint is the variety’s character rather than a shortcoming: the wines are perfumed without becoming cloying, and the acidity keeps the aromatics from turning heavy. The thick skins are doing the work.
In the cellar Where the grape is unarguably excellent is sweet. The honeyed passiti and Vin Santi of the Colli Piacentini are its summit, and one of them, a Vin Santo from the Val di Nure, D’Agata ranks among the top five or six sweet wines in Italy. Sparkling versions, both dry and sweet, are made from the higher-acid clones, and there are good dry monovarietals.
Key expressions
- Colli Piacentini Vin Santo and passito, the variety’s finest wines.
- Dry monovarietal whites from Colli Piacentini and Colli di Parma.
- Sparkling versions built on the higher-acid PC MACA clones.
- Sweet sparkling bottlings, a local speciality.
The question of aging Dry versions are best inside three or four years, while the spice and tropical fruit are fresh; they do not gain from waiting. The sweet wines are the opposite and will develop for decades, the honeyed character deepening into dried apricot, saffron and nut while the acidity holds the sugar in check.
At the table The dry wines suit the salumi and fresh cheeses of Piacenza and Parma, and the faint spice handles lightly aromatic dishes well. The sweet versions belong with almond biscuits, aged parmigiano and blue cheese rather than heavy desserts. Serve the dry around ten degrees, the sweet a little cooler.
Why it matters Two grapes share most of a name, one is ordinary and everywhere, the other is very good and largely unknown, and almost nobody distinguishes between them on a label. Malvasia di Candia Aromatica makes some of the finest sweet wine in Italy in a corner of Emilia few people associate with fine wine at all. The name is the obstacle, as it so often is.