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Why it tastes like this

Why does Istrian Malvazija taste like that?

Istria’s white, made either fresh and floral or amber and tannic after months on skins.

What this page is and is not

These are the contributors WineHQ can name for Istrian Malvazija as a category. Every one is a tendency, a convention or a mechanism, and each carries a label saying which. None of it describes how a particular producer made a particular bottle — real practice varies enormously, and a causal account that read as a recipe would be false for a great many of the wines it covers.

The grape

What does the variety bring before anyone does anything to it?

Characteristically low tannin and medium-plus acidity. Commonly associated with acacia, green apple, almond, apricot.

Not claiming: That every wine from this variety shows these characteristics. This is the range across the category, and site and winemaking move wines within and beyond it.

Place and climate

What did the growing season do to the fruit?

A Mediterranean pattern of wet winters and dry summers is associated with reliable ripening and with mild late-season water stress, which restricts berry size and raises the ratio of skin to juice.

Varies: Where the dry season is severe or lengthening, the same pattern produces damaging rather than beneficial stress, and irrigation becomes necessary rather than optional.

Not claiming: That water stress is beneficial as such. Mild stress helps; severe stress halts ripening.

Winemaking

What decisions were taken between the vineyard and the bottle?

Fermenting white grapes on their skins extracts phenolics that white winemaking normally removes, giving orange wine measurable tannin and a deeper colour.

Not claiming: That all Georgian wine is made this way, or that skin contact implies a qvevri.

Age

What changes after the wine is bottled?

The fresh style is for its first two years. Skin-contact bottlings have the tannin to develop for a decade, in the same way Friulian and Slovenian amber wines do.

Not claiming: That a wine of this style will develop these characters. Ageing potential varies by producer, vintage and storage, and most wine is better young.

Follow it up

Style

Istrian Malvazija

The taste profile, food matches, serving guidance and what to try next.

Science

Why wine is like this

The mechanisms behind each contributor above, explained at the scope they have been established.

Myths

What people get wrong

Several of the explanations usually given for wines like this do not survive checking.

Sources

Sources consulted