Synonymus and homonymus of "Malvasía" cultivars (Vitis vinifera L.) existing in Spain

Abstract

"Malvasia" is a common name for different grape cultivars that have long been grown in Spain. In many cases, these cultivars are noted as being aromatic, sweet, and similar to Muscat in flavour. However, not all grapes that share this name exhibit these characteristics. This study compares the Malvasia cultivars in the Spanish Denominations of Origin with those grape cultivars grown in the grapevine collection of El Encín (Alcalá de Henares, Spain) using morphological, isoenzymatic, and microsatellite analysis as well as a large bibliographic search of the studied cultivars. Despite their Malvasia denomination, some cultivars have been identified as synonyms of "Macabeo", "Alarije", "Doña Blanca,", "Chasselas", or "Planta Nova", all included on the official Spanish list of commercial grape cultivars. "Malvasía de Sitges" and "Malvasía de Lanzarote" have the characteristic flavour of Malvasia grapes and no synonyms were found among the cultivars grown in Spain, whereas "Malvasía Rosada" resulted from a colour mutation in "Malvasía de Sies".