Malgiacca

Malgiacca is a small, independent wine estate based in Gragnano, Capannori, in the hills around Lucca, Tuscany. Rather than following the polished, highly controlled approach associated with much of modern Italian winemaking, the estate works on a small scale with a strong emphasis on farming, spontaneous fermentation and allowing the grapes to dictate the finished wine. The wines are made in limited quantities, with the estate's White 2019, for example, producing only around 2,500 bottles. There is a distinctly hands-off philosophy running through the range, but without losing sight of the fact that these are wines intended to be enjoyed at the table.

The vineyards sit in the Lucchesia, an area in north-western Tuscany with a climate influenced by both the nearby Mediterranean and the Apennine mountains. Malgiacca works with a mixture of traditional Tuscan and other Italian grape varieties, reflecting the rather mixed planting found in the vineyards. The White is a particularly good example, built around approximately 50% Trebbiano with Vermentino and Malvasia making up another 30%, alongside smaller amounts of Grechetto, Moscato and other varieties. Rather than separating every variety into individual wines, Malgiacca uses this mixture to create blends with plenty of texture, freshness and savoury character.

Winemaking is deliberately straightforward. Grapes are harvested by hand in small crates and picked when properly ripe, with the emphasis on healthy fruit rather than chasing high levels of extraction or concentration. Fermentation takes place spontaneously using the native yeasts present on the grapes, without temperature control. For the White, roughly half of the grapes are pressed in a pneumatic press while the remainder ferment in vats, followed by malolactic fermentation and around three months resting on the lees in stainless steel. The wines may be bottled either filtered or unfiltered, with filtration kept deliberately coarse when it is used. It is a practical, low-intervention approach that allows the wine to retain plenty of texture and personality without turning natural wine into a stylistic exercise.

The resulting wines tend towards freshness, salinity and savoury depth rather than overtly funky or oxidative flavours. Malgiacca White, for example, combines ripe apple, golden plum and honeyed notes with sage, mineral character and a persistent saline freshness. The wine has enough richness to make it interesting on its own but enough acidity and savoury character to work particularly well with food. This idea of gastronomic wine is important to the estate: these are bottles designed to be opened alongside a meal, where their texture, acidity and savoury character can really come into their own.

What makes Malgiacca interesting is the combination of traditional Tuscan grape growing with a deliberately contemporary attitude towards winemaking. There is no attempt to make the wines overly polished or technically perfect; instead, the focus is on healthy fruit, native fermentation, limited manipulation and letting the vineyard and vintage show through. The result is a small range of characterful wines from an often-overlooked corner of Tuscany, with the sort of freshness and drinkability that makes them particularly easy to bring to the dinner table. Malgiacca's wines feel distinctly Italian without being tied too closely to conventional regional styles, which is part of what makes the estate worth seeking out.