14 wines
6 denominations
Glera is the white grape behind Prosecco, Italy's most celebrated sparkling wine.
Wines
84
Acidity
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White Grape · Basilicata
Malvasia Bianca di Basilicata
One of Basilicata's few native whites, Malvasia Bianca trades the Malvasia family's famous perfume and sweetness for something fresher: light, floral, high-acid wines, most at home leading the blend in the southern appellation of Grottino di Roccanova.
Malvasia Bianca di Basilicata is the indigenous white grape of Lucania, the backbone of Matera DOC Bianco and Spumante (minimum 70%) and a steady presence in Basilicata IGT, Grottino di Roccanova DOC and Terre dell'Alta Val d'Agri DOC. Distinct from the aromatic Malvasias of Candia and Lipari, it expresses delicate citrus and orchard fruit on volcanic and calcareous soils.
1
Denominations
Clearing it up
One name, two different wines
vs
This is the grape
Malvasia Bianca di Basilicata
White grape of Basilicata
- White, waxy-skinned berries that ripen green to gold
- Fresh, floral, dry-leaning still whites
- Carries the white side of the Grottino di Roccanova DOC
Not this
Malvasia Nera di Basilicata
Black grape of Basilicata
- Black-berried, a distinct red variety, not this grape's dark twin
- DNA points to a natural Malvasia Bianca Lunga and Susumaniello cross
- A blending grape for Basilicata's reds and rosati
The anchor fact: They share a region, a name and even the Grottino di Roccanova DOC, yet Malvasia Bianca and Malvasia Nera di Basilicata are two separate varieties, one white and one black, not a pale and dark version of the same grape.
Taste · Where it sits
What it’s actually like in the glass
Forget scores out of five. Here’s Malvasia Bianca di Basilicata described against grapes you already know.
BodyLight-framed
LightFull
A slim, unoaked white, one of the lightest things grown in red-dominated Basilicata.
AcidityBright and lemony
SoftZippy
Its calling card, and why growers reach for it in blends: a lemon-sharp lift that stops warm-climate whites turning flabby.
Fruit & sweetnessMostly dry
DrySweet
Almost always vinified dry despite the Malvasia name, though a few lightly sweet versions still turn up.
Key flavours
Citrusy fruit
The broader citrus-peel tang sitting behind the sharper lemon, more zest than juice.
Apple blossom
The soft floral top-note that tips it toward gently aromatic rather than plain.
Pear
Soft white-pear roundness that fills in behind the citrus and keeps it from feeling austere.
Apple
Crisp green-apple bite, the backbone of its orchard-fruit character.
Wet stones
A cool, wet-stone mineral undertone the Roccanova growers tie to their tuff and rock.
Lemon
Sharp fresh-lemon acidity, the note doing the heavy lifting on the palate.
Racy · Crisp
Round · Soft
Light-bodied
Bold · Full
Glera
Chardonnay
Pinot Grigio
Vermentino
Garganega
Cortese
Malvasia Bianca di Basilicata
The map
Malvasia Bianca di Basilicata is light to medium, crisp, fresh acidity, mapped against other white grapes you can buy. The closer a grape sits, the more its weight and freshness resemble Malvasia Bianca di Basilicata.
Malvasia Bianca di Basilicatalight to medium, crisp, fresh acidity
Gleraa close match
Chardonnayfuller, rounder
Pinot Grigioa close match
Vermentinoa close match
Garganegaa close match
Cortesea close match
Is this for you?
An honest gut-check
Reach for it when…
A bold red that just works
- You want a fresh, low-key Italian white from a region almost no one associates with white wine.
- You are working through Basilicata beyond Aglianico and want the local white counterpart.
- You like lemony, lightly floral whites and enjoy tracking down obscure native grapes.
Maybe skip it if…
You’re after something else tonight
- You expected a sweet or heavily perfumed Malvasia; this one is built dry and restrained.
- You want structure, oak or ageing; it is made to drink young and cold.
- You need something easy to find; bottlings rarely travel far beyond Basilicata.
Serving guide
Pour it at its best
Serve at
8-10°C
Serve it fridge-cold, 8 to 10C, to keep the florals crisp and the acidity refreshing rather than tart.
Decant
No
No need; there is no sediment and no tannin to soften, and air only scatters its light aromatics.
Glass
Standard White Wine Glass
A standard white glass is plenty; this is not a wine that needs a big bowl to coax it open.
Drink within
2-3 days
Once open it holds a couple of days in the fridge, but there is nothing to gain by waiting; drink it fresh.
Cellar
1-3 years
Built for drinking inside a year or two of the vintage; only the best examples stretch to three.
Denominations
Where it earns a name on the label
The appellations where Malvasia Bianca di Basilicata plays a starring role.
Where it grows
Where Malvasia Bianca di Basilicata grows in Basilicata
Basilicata
Italy's smallest southern producer, where Aglianico ripens late on the volcanic cones of Mount Vulture and Matera's tufa cellars age the country's most under-priced age-worthy reds.
14 wines
·
6 denominations
Explore the Basilicata guide
The terroir
Basilicata is red-wine country, defined by Aglianico on the volcanic slopes of Monte Vulture. Malvasia Bianca is the exception here, a native white kept in the cooler inland hills, and it finds its clearest identity in the far south, around the tuff-cave town of Roccanova.
Grottino di Roccanova
Southern Basilicata, Lucano Apennines
Leads the white at a minimum of 80 percent of the blend in a tiny hill appellation named for the tuff caves where the wine was once aged.
Wider Basilicata
Matera hills and the inland south
Grown as a minor native white across the region, usually blended with other local grapes and valued for the freshness and acidity it brings.
Editorial
About Malvasia Bianca di Basilicata
Malvasia Bianca di Basilicata is an indigenous Lucanian white, documented in the region since the eighteenth century and almost certainly carried south by Greek and Byzantine settlers along with the wider Malvasia family. Its parentage is unknown and its identity is genetically distinct from the aromatic Malvasias of Candia and Lipari and from the Malvasia Bianca Lunga of central Italy, with which it has often been confused. Plantings have collapsed from roughly 900 hectares in 2000 to about 32 hectares of designated vineyard by 2016.
Its home appellation, Grottino di Roccanova, takes its name from the grottini, the tuff cellars cut into the rock where wine was once aged; Malvasia Bianca is the grape behind its whites.
Grottino di Roccanova, BasilicataThe variety thrives between 300 and 600 metres on the calcareous-clayey and marly soils of the Potentino foothills around Acerenza, Maschito, Oppido Lucano and Genzano di Lucania, and on the limestone benches of the eastern Materano. Bunches are conical and moderately compact, berries are golden yellow with succulent pulp, and ripening lands between mid-September and early October. Beyond Basilicata IGT, it is the principal grape of Matera Bianco DOC and Matera Spumante DOC at a minimum of seventy per cent, and is also authorised in Grottino di Roccanova DOC and Terre dell'Alta Val d'Agri DOC.
Most producers vinify the grape as a dry still wine in stainless steel, with brief sur-lie ageing where extra texture is wanted. The result is pale straw with greenish reflections, a delicate nose of citrus, pear, apple and white flowers brushed by wild herbs, a linear medium-light palate and a saline, lightly mineral finish. Cantina di Venosa's Verbo Malvasia Bianca is the widest commercial reference; some growers around Matera also work the grape into spumante Charmat for an aperitivo style.
Good to know
Frequently asked
No. Despite morphological similarity that has caused historical confusion, Malvasia Bianca di Basilicata is a genetically distinct, autochthonous Lucanian variety. Its profile is gentler and more savoury than the perfumed Malvasia di Candia or the dessert-style Malvasia di Lipari, and it is grown almost exclusively within Basilicata.
Pale straw with greenish reflections, a delicate nose of citrus, pear, apple and white flowers tinged with wild herbs, and a medium-light, brisk palate that finishes dry with a saline mineral lift. It is fresh rather than aromatic in the manner of other Malvasias.
Lucanian cucina povera. Try it with peperoni cruschi pasta, baccalà arracanato, fave e cicoria, fried zucchini flowers and the local Pecorino di Filiano DOP. The wine's saline finish also handles seafood from the Ionian coast and the freshwater fish of Lago di Monticchio.
Almost exclusively in Basilicata. The historic vineyards sit between 300 and 600 metres on the calcareous-clayey and marly hills of the Potentino district around Acerenza, Maschito, Oppido Lucano and Genzano di Lucania, and on the limestone benches of the eastern Materano. Total designated area dropped from about 900 hectares in 2000 to roughly 32 hectares by 2016.
It is the principal white grape of Matera Bianco DOC and Matera Spumante DOC, where it must make up at least seventy per cent of the blend. It is also authorised in Basilicata IGT, Grottino di Roccanova DOC and Terre dell'Alta Val d'Agri DOC. Cantina di Venosa's Verbo Malvasia Bianca is the most widely distributed example.
No. The grape is almost always vinified dry in stainless steel for fresh, savoury whites, and is also used for dry Matera Spumante DOC made by the Charmat method. Sweet or passito styles are unusual; for those, look to Malvasia di Lipari instead.
Explore by style
Wine styles made from Malvasia Bianca di Basilicata
Jump to the editorial guide for each style this grape turns up in.
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