Italian wine and grape guide : Malvasia

The name Malvasia belongs to several grape varieties, most white grapes and found all over Italy. Although from different origins, all these varieties share some characteristics, they all have a spicy fragrance of musk and apricot and rather high residual sugar. These characteristics make the grape varieties of Malvasia particularly suitable for the production of sparkling and sweet wines. The Malvasia Bianca grape variety is found mainly in southern Italy where it is usually blended together with other varieties and is also found in Friuli Venezia Giulia.