Malvoisie

About this grape variety

Pinot Gris, like Pinot Blanc, is a genetic mutation of Pinot Noir that changed colour spontaneously.
In Valais its magnificent wines are known as Malvoisie. Like its forebear, Pinot Gris has a compact bunch and is susceptible to disease. Also like Pinot Noir, it prefers the best Valais slopes: the warmest, the best ventilated.

It is nearly always harvested as withered grapes for late harvest wine, sometimes graced with noble rot (Botrytis cinerea). The small number of dry Malvoisie wines (called Pinot Gris in Valais) are wonderful to explore. No matter the type of wine, these wines, which are concentrated, vinous, robust, soft and full, become wonderfully well balanced after some years of cellar aging.

Information

  • Nose

    It has a complex bouquet with notes of quince jelly, golden plum jam, honey, cooked fruits and oriental spices.

  • Palate

    It is unctuous and sweet.

  • Origin

    Malvoisie first appeared in the Valais in a recipe book edited between 1671 and 1698. As a result, it is not easy to identify the variety(ies) hidden behind this designation. In 1869, Zurich chemist Kohler was the first to find a common identity between the Malvoisie from Valais and Pinot Gris.

Malvoisie

59.15 ha out of 4675 ha, or 1.26%

Tasting profile

Fruity

Full

Fresh

Sweet

81 wine producers cultivate this grape variety

Find a cellar
Etymology

Malvoisie refers to the well-known Italian Malvasia Bianca, which produces high-quality sweet wines, but in Valais it is the name historically used to identify Pinot Gris.

wine cellar(s)

Taste this grape variety

Chamoson

23 wines from this cellar

Cave Cybèle

Carlo Carruzzo, winemaker and oenologist, and his wife cultivate an area of 1.5 hectares of vines, located entirely in Chamoson.

Riddes

25 wines from this cellar

Maye

A family home in the hands of the fourth generation

Martigny

15 wines from this cellar

Cave Florian Besse

Their vines benefit from the sun on the steep slopes of the vineyards in Martigny area and they cultivate eleven grape varieties to this day.

Your tasting profile

Select your favourite type of wine or indicate what you are looking for in a wine and find out which Valais wine is right for you.

apricots, citrus fruits, exotic or red fruits, almonds, etc.Fruity

violet, elder, lime, rose, etc.Floral

low in alcohol, low in tanninsLight

Medium-bodied

intense alcohol, acidity and aromasFull

dominated by acid, which gives the wine a fresh appearanceCrisp

Fresh

without acidity, round, smoothSoft

no residual sugarDry

Semi-sweet

mellow wine, fairly supple, fleshyRich

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