Aeolian Malvasia – through producers' eyes

Malvasia is the name of a wide range of unrelated grape varieties, both white and red. The name is thought to stem from the Greek port town of Monemvasia on the far eastern coast of the Peloponnese. From here a local sweet wine was traded and shipped as early as the thirteenth century, notably by the Venetians, who developed a thriving trade in it, calling it Vinum de Malvasia, a reference to the Greek port. This city state’s economic and military power was almost...