Ep 553: The Grape Mini-Series -- Malvasia(s)

Wine for Normal People

Alcohol, Lifestyle, Arts, Education, Food, Wine, Dining, Grapes

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This is a grape mini-series like no other! This time I untangle Malvasia, which I share is not a single grape at all, nor is it even a family of grapes. This ancient grape has unknown origins and, in many respects, is more of a brand name than a grape.

I cover the history of how the many Malvasias got their single name, discuss some commonalities in growing conditions (they are at least all Mediterranean!), and then call out the specific Malvasias of quality from Friuli, Tuscany, and Sicily in Italy; in Madeira, Douro, Dão and Colares in Portugal, and in the Canary Islands and Rioja in Spain.

Photo: Malvasía de Rioja. Credit: Rioja DOCa

I wish I could say this was a straightforward grape mini-series, but this will take many twists and turns -- hopefully I served as good enough navigator to help the ride be a little less bumpy!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Wine for Normal People, the podcast for people who like wine, but not the snobbery that goes with it.
0:15.8	I'm your host Elizabeth Schneider, author of the Wine for Normal People book and certified wine dork.
0:21.3	Have you checked out my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access?
0:24.4	Go to Wine Access.com slash normal and check out my wine club with Wine Access.
0:29.4	Six bottles, 150 bucks four times a year.
0:33.0	I select all the wines.
0:34.6	Why do I work with Wine Access?
0:35.7	Because they are the best place to discover
0:37.7	limited production wines from around the world. And honestly, they are where people in the
0:42.3	wine industry go to buy their wine. Wineaccess.com slash normal, wine acceeses.com
0:48.8	slash normal. And listen in the middle of the show for more detail. I know many of you, when you see the Great Mini series, you're very excited and you love
0:58.3	these shows.
0:59.3	They are succinct.
1:01.2	They are super focused on a specific grape.
1:04.3	I think there's always something really interesting about doing a deep dive on a specific
1:09.6	grape, even if it's something that is normally used
1:12.8	in a blend, just to understand where it comes from, how it's used, how it's viewed.
1:17.9	All of these things are really essential to understanding wine in general or how a certain
1:23.9	wine tastes, the history and the legacy of certain wines.
1:27.2	It's a great jumping off point to understand where things are being grown and why.
1:31.6	For instance, when I just did the one on Tariga Nacional, very focused, very easy to understand.
1:38.2	This is Portugal's main grape.
	...

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