Malvasia Istriana

Malvasia is not a single variety but a scattered family of unrelated and loosely related grapes spread across the Mediterranean, and Malvasia Istriana is the one belonging to the Istrian peninsula — the wedge of land shared today by Croatia, Slovenia and a sliver of Italy at the top of the Adriatic.

It is the dominant white of Istria and is treated there with real seriousness. Made conventionally in steel it is dry and aromatic: acacia blossom, green apple, apricot and a characteristic bitter-almond note on the finish, with moderate acidity and a faintly saline quality on vineyards close to the sea.

Made with skin contact, which a great many Istrian producers favour, it becomes something else entirely — deep gold to amber, tannic, with dried apricot, honey, orange peel, walnut and a firm grip. The region sits at the meeting point of the Italian orange wine tradition of Friuli and the Slovenian Brda, and the techniques move freely across the borders.

Soil divides the styles. The red iron-rich terra rossa of central Istria gives rounder, fruitier wines; the white marl and limestone of the interior gives leaner, more mineral ones; and the Carso plateau, shared with Vitovska, gives the most saline and structured of all.

Ageing in acacia wood rather than oak is a local tradition, chosen because it adds structure without imposing much flavour of its own. The results can hold for a decade, which is not something the wider Malvasia family is generally known for.