Malvasia Wine is Italian red and white wines made from Malvasia grapes.
Fruili, Italy, is known for its whites; Piedmont for its reds.
The wines can be anything from a table wine to a sweet dessert wine, very dry or very sweet.
In all of them, though, the almost spicy aroma of the grapes really comes through.
In general, Malvasia Wines don’t age well, and are meant to be consumed young, though dessert wines in this class can be kept.
To make the dessert wines, the harvested grapes are set out on mats to dry a bit first in the sun, concentrating their sugars.
White varieties of Malvasia Wine include Malvasia Bianca del Chianti, Malvasia di Bosa (Sardinia), Malvasia di Cagliari (Sardinia), Malvasia di Candia, Malvasia Istiana (dry. aka Malvasia Friulana because it’s made in Fruili) Malvasia del Lazio, Malvasia delle Lipari (Sicily), and Malvasia di Sardegna.
Red wines include Malvasia di Castelnuovo Don Bosco (Piedmont.)