Muscat is best described as a family of grapes, rather than a single variety. Many strains and mutations of the grape exist, from Muscat Blanc à Petit Grains (the posh type) to Muscat of Alexandria (the workhorse). The grapes can produce everything from pale, light, sparkling wines to inky, black, occasionally fortified offerings. To our mind, Muscat is an overlooked family, often unfairly derided, and certainly underplanted. Not fair for a vine group thought to be the oldest in civilisation!
Muscat is unique in that it is famous for actually smelling of grapes. It is also typically one of the most identifiable styles in blind wine tastings - in a test at the University of California up to 59% of trained wine tasters recognised it.
These days, Muscat is perhaps best known in the sticky wines of Beaumes de Venise, an appellation (demarcated area) in the Southern Rhone in France. Here it is made from Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains and is produced as a vin doux naturel, a wine whose fermentation is arrested using grape spirit. This results in a sweet wine with a robust level of alcohol (look out for Domaine de Durban here, a particularly good producer). The term vin doux naturel literally means "naturally sweet wine", though this is a bit misleading for the reasons described above.
Surprisingly perhaps the district of Constantia, just south of South Africa's Cape Town, was in the 18th and 19th Century famous for producing some of the world's most sought after dessert wines from the Muscat Blanc à Petit Grains (here called Frontignan). The wines were regularly served at many of the European royal courts, and both Dickens and Austen recommend it in their novels. As with many vineyards around the world, Constantia's vineyards were devastated by the phylloxera louse in the late 19th century. Production began again in the mid 1990's, and we'd urge you to taste Vin de Constance (last tasted on a recent trip to Cape Town) - it's very special.
Australia's Rutherglen Muscat is another well known dessert wine made by a strain within a strain, Muscat Blanc à Petit Grains Rouge. These wines tend to be amber brown in colour, with sticky toffee and smokey characteristics. They make superb matches with chocolate based puddings. The wines are often produced to Sherry like principles where barrels are stacked on top of each other in very hot warehouses. These barrels are interconnected allowing fractional blending to take place (the aim of this is to ensure a consistent wine).
The blanc strain of the grape has also found its way to Italy, where it is responsible for Moscato D'Asti, the gently sparkling wine from the north west of the country. The unfortunate association with Asti Spumante has done nothing for this style. A lovely aperitif wine, Moscato is well worth revisiting if you haven't tasted it for a while. Be prepared for a wine light in alcohol, with attractive sweetness, and a pleasant frothiness!
Whilst Muscat Blanc à Petit Grains is widely respected, some believe Muscat of Alexandria is slightly coarse. It is also quite a low acid grape, which invariably is not good news in winemaking. Muscat of Alexandria is one of the principle varieties in Málaga in Spain. Portugal's Moscatel de Setúbal is also made from Muscat of Alexandria (this is Portugal's equivalent of Beaumes de Venise).
Muscat of Alexandria probably does best in Greece - the first Muscat producer. They plant both the Blanc and the Alexandrian strains, and The Muscat of Samos, Muscat of Patros, Muscat Rion of Patras and Muscat of Cephalonia are all sweet and naturally strong.
Muscat Ottonel must not be forgotten, being somewhat mousey in character, and best known in Alsace (it's planted very sparingly here). The Muscat's from Alsace are invariably dry, and are the best examples of this particular strain of the grape.
The last strain of any serious note is Muscat Hamburg, black in colour and very popular for table grapes. It is used in Eastern Europe for light bodied red wines with a light Muscat aroma.
Finally, remember that in general Muscat does not reward patience. Invariably it is best drunk young and fresh!
Pip Martin manages and produces International, UK-wide and
corporate wine tasting games and other specialist events for the corporate events industry.
