Malvasia by Donati - Fun, Naturally
Malvasia secco, Camillo Donati
Behold the apples’ rounded worlds:
juice-green of July rain,
the black polestar of flowers, the rind
mapped with its crimson stain.
The russet, crab and cottage red
burn to the sun’s hot brass,
then drop like sweat from every branch
and bubble in the grass.
They lie as wanton as they fall,
and where they fall and break,
the stallion clamps his crunching jaws,
the starling stabs his beak.
In each plump gourd the cidery bite
of boys’ teeth tears the skin;
the waltzing wasp consumes his share,
the bent worm enters in.
I, with as easy hunger, take
entire my season’s dole;
welcome the ripe, the sweet, the sour,
the hollow and the whole.
Laurie Lee - Apples
It is not that certain white wines tastes like cider, they obviously aspire to be cider. Obnubilated, mildly funky, pure as the driven yeast, Donati’s natural whites are fermented like reds (with skin contact), without temperature control, and use no other enhancers at fermentation, no fining, no acidification or de-acidification, no selected yeasts, etc. These then are natural frizzante wines deriving from the traditional method of refermentation in bottle, a method that does not require the fuff and clutter of preservatives and which makes this wine, unlike those produced by charmat method, age better. As a coup de gout it is unfiltered and topped with a crown cap (a traditional closure for some decades in this region). I have written previously about Donati’s Trebbiano a wine which is both simple and complex. Uncork it and you release hilarity, although the transmission of that quality may stop at the pursed lips of wine critics who seek high seriousness in their wines.
The Malvasia secco is one of those sparklers where spring flowers are entwined with autumn windfall. Malvasia, from northern Italy, usually reminds me of orange blossom honey over drooping orchard fruits coated with sweet spice and pepper. Amber and hazy to a fault (lava lamp alert), wafting aromas of tangerine and musk mixed with pollen, Donati’s Malvasia wine prickles, skitters and scythes across the palate unveiling the texture of bleached apricot skins and the sensation of warm peach, as well as delicate impressions of sweet grass, jasmine and tea-rose - all teased along with breezy orange citrus. The finish is ale and hearty, refreshing to the last hoppy drop. As the bottle is consumed – and it will be consumed – the wine mellows to a jaunty, twinkling grapiness or maybe it is just so darned drinkable that the edges only appear to soften. The sedimentary final glass crowns the naturalness of the wine; more often than not a thick orange powder has precipitated and these coagulated lees glow like a phosphorescent paste (nature’s portion indeed).
Guzzle with some smoky tarama, steamed asparagus, a simple seafood risotto and some talkative friends.