Sera Fina Cellars, about whom I’ve written before, also makes this (spoiler alert!) lovely, sweet white. It is made from the malvasia grape, yet another grape variety that I was unfamiliar with until recently. The malvasia grape is grown in Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, and the Canary Islands among other locations. There are both white and red varieties of the grape, but we’ll concern ourselves with the white version, since that’s what we’re drinking.
The 2009 Malvasia Bianca is a sweet white wine. The color is a clear, pale gold. The nose has changed on me. The first time I tasted it, I immediately thought “Pears!”, but today, when I smelled it, my brain said, “Not pears, Peaches!” But, honestly, I still get a little pear.
It is a simple wine, with a strong taste of pears, peaches a granny smith apples on the front, a pleasant honey in the middle and a faint acid/gingery finish, that lasts quite a while. It is a sweet wine, but I don’t want to put you off. It is tart and dry enough to drink on it’s own, and I think it would hold up well against a moderately spicy chicken or fish dish. But it would probably best be paired with fresh pears or peaches for desert. And frankly, on this sunny afternoon, it is really good all by itself.
The wine has won Double Gold medals in Florida and a couple of Silver medals here in California. It sells at a bargain price, imho, of only $16/bottle.
2009 Malvasia Bianca
Sweet White. Good for dessert or medium spicy foods or all by itself.
$16/bottle
Recommended