Malvasia di Candia

Malvasia di Candia represents both a grape variety and an ancient wine style from Crete with its heydays dating back to the Venetian occupation of the island. This variety gives wines with rich aromas, intense grape & floral flavours. It comtemporaty incarnation comes with “Malvasia di Candia Aromatica” clone, currently planted only in vineyards in Crete. Malvasia di Candia is a distinctly different sub-variety in the expansive family of grapes indentified as Malvasia (Malvasia Bianca)  typically found in Italy, Croatia, the Balearic & the Canary Islands and Madeira.   With regards to the origins of the name "Malvasia” for the sweet wine style, there are two competing theories: One asserts that the word is a corruption from Monemvasia, a Venetian fort on  the southern-most tip of Peloponnese,  translated in Italian as "Malvasia”. The port represented a major transport hub for products traded from Aegean islands to other parts of the Mediterranean.  During the Middle Ages, the highly prized dessert wines of the eastern Mediterranean, and notably those of the city of Candia in Northern  Crete became such an important and lucrative trade for Venetians that merchant wine shops in Venice were known as “Malvasie”. A second theory holds that the name is derived from the district of Malevizi, near the city of Heraklion (which Venetians called “Candia”) on Crete, which was one of the main areas of production for the sweet wines of the island at the time. In any case Malevizi and Candia have lent their name to the grape variety Malvasia Bianca di Candia (white Malmsey of Crete).