The First Light of Summer - Malvasia Bianca and Venice
A glass of Malvasia Bianca, the gardens of San Pietro di Castello, and the quiet arrival of summer in Venice.
Summer arrives gently in Venice, under the unusually warm light of late June. The gardens fill with Mediterranean flowers and fragrant herbs, sunlight sparkles across the lagoon, and the market begins to offer the season’s first ripe fruits. Peaches bring the sweetness of the summer solstice, basil carries the scent of the island gardens, and sun-ripened tomatoes add the deep red colour of June.
Beside them, a glass of Malvasia Bianca becomes almost inevitable, a wine that brings together the Mediterranean in a single gesture, through aromas, light, and a delicate saline freshness.
Among the nineteen Malvasia varieties cultivated in Italy today, Malvasia Bianca is one of the most widespread in the country’s southern regions. It is mainly grown in Molise, Puglia, Calabria, and Campania, where, for centuries, it has accompanied landscapes shaped by sunlight, coastal winds, and the constant presence of the sea. Its official name is Malvasia Bianca, although it is also known by the recognised synonyms Verdana, Iuvarella, or simply Malvasia, depending on the region. In the Italian National Register of Vine Varieties, it is listed under code 129 and has been officially registered since 22 February 1971.
The bottle I have chosen today comes from the Ionian Salento, from the vineyards of Varvaglione, only a few kilometres from the sea. Here, summer arrives early, and sunlight accompanies the vines for most of the year. The salty breeze rising from the coast, the warm climate, and the Mediterranean itself shape the character of the wine. In the glass, it reveals a brilliant straw-yellow colour. The nose offers delicate herbal notes together with aromas of apricot and tropical fruit. On the palate, it is fresh, well-balanced, and marked by an elegant savoury character that seems to echo the landscape from which it comes.
To accompany it, I prepared an early-summer salad with crisp green radicchio, julienned courgettes from the island of Sant’Erasmo, grilled heritage tomatoes, grilled peaches, fresh goat’s cheese, thyme leaves, and plenty of basil. It is an uncomplicated dish, yet one built around the very same aromas, colours, and freshness that I find in the wine.
It becomes a meeting point between Venice and Southern Italy, united by the same Mediterranean light.
The Malvasias are among the most fascinating, and perhaps the most complex, grape families to tell. Behind a name that seems deceptively simple lies a remarkable collection of varieties that, over the centuries, have travelled across different territories, acquiring new identities, distinctive characteristics, and even different names. They have crossed the Mediterranean for centuries, adapting to new landscapes without ever losing their own identity.
Perhaps this is why Venice still feels so deeply connected to them. For a city built on water, a place that has welcomed people, goods, ideas, and cultures from every shore of the Mediterranean for centuries, a glass of Malvasia is never simply a wine. It is a fragment of that shared history.
Sitting along the waterfront of San Pietro di Castello, looking out across the lagoon, I often feel that this journey has never truly ended. It continues to live in the reflection of the water, in the scents of summer, and in a glass that brings together the Salento and Venice with the quiet naturalness of places that, somehow, have always belonged to one another.
Perhaps every Malvasia preserves something of the sea it has crossed. The light changes from Venice to the Salento, the landscapes and the aromas change too, yet the same feeling of summer continues to flow across the Mediterranean.
Here, along the shores of San Pietro di Castello, I find that same reflection in the glass, on the plate, and in the waters of the lagoon.
It is the reflection of a sea that continues to connect places, people, and stories.
In tasting
12 e Mezzo
Malvasia Bianca del Salento IGP, 2025
Azienda Varvaglione 1921
Leporano, Salento (Puglia)
Pairing
Green radicchio salad with zucchini ribbons, grilled peach, roasted cherry tomatoes, basil, thyme, and creamy goat's cheese.
Laura Riolfatto
Wine storyteller & sommelier
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