Common name or synonym (many names for one variety) and homonym (one name for many varieties) for many different, sometimes but by no means always genetically related grape varieties, especially in Italy, Spain and Portugal. They come in berry colours white, light green, grey, rosé, red, blue and black and also with different aromas, for example with and without muscat tones. In summary, the grape varieties with "Malvasia" in their name have a genetically diverse background and show an equally heterogeneous morphology (external appearance). That is, there are no particular Malvasia-specific characteristics. The name Malvasia therefore relatively often names a wine type but not a grape variety family that is often wrongly called this (the same phenomenon applies to the four name groups Lambrusco, Muscat, Trebbiano and Vernaccia).
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Dominik Trick
Technischer Lehrer, staatl. geprüfter Sommelier, Hotelfachschule Heidelberg