Malvar

W

Warren Edwardes

Warren Edwardes
I had my first and second Malvars yesterday.

I asked if they were like Malvasia before tasting.

Not quite but very fruity and long finish. Good acidity.
 
Malvar is almost exclusively grown in the Madrid region - a little in neighboring Castilla-La Mancha. No genetic relation to malvasia at all. It's indigenous to the area, apparently. There may be a kinship to airn, as DNA testing indicates, but it's quality-wise a much more interesting variety for winemaking purposes - smaller yields, more aromatic.
 
I tried them at a Vinos de Madrid tasting.

Bodegas Orusco Via Man Blanco 2008

Solera Bodegas Julio Herrero Blanc 2008

Yes a lot more aromatic than Airn or indeed Macabeo / Viura. Quite interesting. In a blind tasting I could guess Malvasia. Definitely not Moscatel / GWT / SB strength aromatics so could attract interest as aromatic whilst not in your face.

On their own great in summer.

Attractively priced well below Albario, Txacoli and even most Verdejo.

Perhaps a possibility matched with asian spices though the ones I tried were bone dry so would need a dosage of sweet wine to do the trick.
 
originally posted by Warren Edwardes:

Yes a lot more aromatic than Airn or indeed Macabeo / Viura.
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Not really. You should try macabeo from Manchuela - Spain's best young, unoaked macabeo. A real flower-and-fruit bowl. Goes very well with some Asian spices...
 
As it happens I am sipping a DO Manchuela as I type.

Vega Tolosa Macabeo, SB, Chardonnay.

I am getting mainly but subdued SB on the nose and palate.

Very palatable.

My wife has gone off to visit her MiL in BCN so I am having a spicy aubergine and tomato bake with fusilli.

PS on reflection all 3 grapes are coming though separately with the buttery Chardonnay in at the finish.

Moreish.
 
originally posted by Warren Edwardes:
As it happens I am sipping a DO Manchuela as I type.

Vega Tolosa Macabeo, SB, Chardonnay.
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Any blend with SB in it is usually SB-dominated. No, I meant pure macabeos from our modest co-ops (Vega Tolosa is one of the few private wineries in the area, and they make somewhat more ambitious and also more international wines) - they retail for something like 2.50 euros in Spain. Altos del Cabriel, from the Villamalea Co-op, was the best one in 2008. Also, from neighboring Utiel-Requena, Aula 2008 from Covias. These are very different expressions for the variety if compared with young viura from Rioja or young macabeo from Peneds - simultaneously fruitier and more floral. The altitude and the limestone are kind to macabeo.
 
originally posted by VS:
originally posted by Warren Edwardes:
As it happens I am sipping a DO Manchuela as I type.

Vega Tolosa Macabeo, SB, Chardonnay.
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... . Altos del Cabriel, from the Villamalea Co-op, was the best one in 2008. ...
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I wish they wouldn't call their red grape Cencibel. Regional pride's great but life's too short to develop an unknown grape "brand".

Ditto Ull de Llebre and perhaps Tinto de Toro but arguably the latter is a different grape rather than just a synonym.
 
No, it's a synonym as are tinto aragons, tinta del pas, tinta Madrid, jancivera... DNA is identical.

So you think they should stop calling cabernet franc 'bouchet' in Saint-milion and 'breton' in Touraine? Or calling malbec 'ct' in Cahors? I rather like these names.
 
originally posted by VS:
No, it's a synonym as are tinto aragons, tinta del pas, tinta Madrid, jancivera... DNA is identical.

So you think they should stop calling cabernet franc 'bouchet' in Saint-milion and 'breton' in Touraine? Or calling malbec 'ct' in Cahors? I rather like these names.
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Yes.

Call them what they like in the winery or region.

I like name variety when I am buying for myself. Good geeky fun.

But not when I'm trying to sell.

Cencibel and Ull de Llebre would be very slow movers on wine lists unless the more famous synonym was also mentioned which defeats the point.

If marketing a "new" grape I'd rather it was indeed different - Prieto Picudo, Mencia or even Bobal and Ondarrabi Beltza. That's enough excitement in a recession.
 
VS, of the 3 main grapes used in cava, is there one which is dominant in the blend? I always thought macabeo was dominant, but I don't see any info which would indicate such is true from a cursory search online. (All this talk of still macabeos from Manchuela got me thinking....)
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:

Actually, they call ct "malbec" in Cahors....
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They call it malbec on labels, Sharon - just as many producers call cencibel 'tempranillo' on labels of wines from Castilla-La Mancha. But I can assure you that my grower colleagues in Cahors call it ct (and some, for mysterious reasons, 'auxerrois', but of course it's not related to the real auxerrois/klevner). Actually, ct is only called malbec in Bordeaux - and Argentina, of course.

Re the main grape in cava blends: no, there isn't any rule, and blends vary widely. Some of the most personal and ambitious cavas now made are pure xarel-lo or xarel-lo dominated.
 
originally posted by Warren Edwardes:

Is there source on this?

Rben Gil of DO Toro insists that Tinta de Toro is a different grape.
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Some people seem wont on living in the 19th century. I reported on this almost nine years ago (citing a DNA study by the national El Encn lab, of course - not making it up...):

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elmundovino.elmundo.es

What happens is that, like most other grape varieties which over the centuries adapt to different environmental conditions, the aspect of tinta de Toro is ampelographically different. Just like Barossa shiraz vines don't much resemble the syrah vines I know from Cte Rtie. But DNA is a stubborn little character.
 
Just to clarify Rben Gil's perspective just received which seems close to yours.

...............

Hola Warren:

La tinta de toro es una adaptacin a lo largo de muchos aos de la tempranillo a los suelos y clima de la comarca de Toro.

Es por ello que fisicamente o tecnicamente se dice que fenotipicamente son variedades diferentes (hojas, tallos, racimos y uvas y como consecuencia el vino). Aunque comparten la misma dotacion genetica.

Es un caso parecido a las diferencias entre la tempranillo de rioja y la tinta fino de ribera del duero y la tinta de Toro. Las 3 son tempranillos geneticamente iguales pero con diferencias fisicas claras como vid, como planta, como racimos de uva y por lo tanto como vinos.

Esperando haberte respondido, recibe un atento saludo de mi parte.

Ruben Gil
Secretario CRDO TORO

................
 
This is all ancient history, Warren. It's been rehashed to death. DNA fingerprinting has basically ended the old ampelographic doubts. These were subjects we used to discuss on the old WLDG forum ten years ago - or more. It's a moot point now.
 
I just go by what people tell me (on this) and take at face value but this line of enquiry is not something that excites me very much.

For me it is not a big deal if Tinta de Toro is DNAwise or Ampelographically identical (or not) to Tempranillo.

Or indeed a bit more topically if the grape formerly known in Australia as "Albario" is in fact Savagnin Blanc or Traminer. c.f. Jancis.

If the grapes can/can't be distinguished by winemakers or by most people in the glass then that is all that matters.
 
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