The Malvasia family is a big one and widely distributed. It seems that the name Malvasia is a bastardisation of the word Monemvasia, a port in southern Greece. A white wine made from the Greek Monemvasia variety was included in a recent Daily Drinker mailing (and very good it was, too!).

The white Malvasia is used to make wines from fully dry to utterly sweet, both in Italy and the Iberian peninsula. The red version is found in central and southern Italy where it is most often used as a blending partner for Negroamaro and Sangiovese, bringing its lifted aromatics to the party.

We're in the heel of Italy's boot here, Puglia, a big, agricultural, flat region where the climate is fully Mediterranean and the soils well suited to the production of grapes, both for wine and for the table. This part of Italy was originally planted with grapes by ancient Greeks millenia ago.

This Terre de Sava winery was started in 2008 by a group of wine lovers determined to strengthen the Sava region's waning vinous heritage. I have tasted a number of wines from this producer and can confirm that they're doing rather well at it!