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moscato
Moscato warning: Beware the 91 pt sting
2008 Botani $13.99
No bug spray needed, just a caution that if you think you’re immune to sweeter grapes, stay away from this varietal steadily invading American shelves. You could be infected with a new love.
The more open minded (or empty headed) are already there, especially guys like me, a softy on sweeties, a champion of underdog grapes and a partisan of unsung regions.
Moscato may be the oldest grape with many forms and names, including a world of dessert wines and sweet sparkless but it is the unfortified version, sweet, not-o and dry that is popping up in California, Spain and Australia. Sutter Home, Barefeoot Cellars, Gallo and its new everyday brand Tisdale, all moscatos with peachy aromas and modest residual sugar.
Yet moscatos can be more than a cheap thrill, as any fan of the muscat canellli in 2008 Conundrum ($18.99) knows. The most stunning example of new-school moscato comes from no less than Jorge Ordonez the great Spanish importer, explorer and champion who is now making a wine of his own, a moscato farmed organically and vinifed sec on Ordonez’s home turf in the Málaga sierras.
More important its nose is full of flowers, honey and tropical fruit but the taste has fewer calories. Jorge’s 2008 Botani (90WA, $13.99) is dry crisp, with intense fruit, a perfect Florida refresher and a boon companion for seafood.
What were we drinking…with gumbo?
I opened a bottle of oh, no… moscato
This requires a couple of true confessions. First, I root for Crystal, not Tabasco in the great Louisiana hot sauce schism: Crystal to me is fresh fruity, a touch sweet and tangy with salt.
Second, I am not afraid of sweet wine. Shame, double shame.
Castello del Poggio Moscato d'Asti (13.99)
And more, since I tried them together with surprising success. At very little risk, I had Tisdale California moscato, a Gallo deep-value brand (in store only) and a back-up inexpensive Spanish verdejo.
The back label made the usual proposition — great with fresh fruit, but something in me said if Riesling can dance with curry, why not a peach of a moscato at a fais-do-do?
The gumbo was simple. Great ripe tomatoes, young okra, red onion, ample garlic, heaps of Sherman spice, thyme and bay leaf. Jumbo shrimp went in at the last few minutes so they were at their sweetest. Then the Crystal flowed. The moscato’s sugar did not overpower the hot sauce and spice but saw around them picking up the natural sweetness and fruit quite happily. Hot and sweet are far apart but good counterpoints. I was skeptical so I poured some of the verdejo. No go; hot and sour may work in Chinese soup but not down the bayou.
Afterward the moscato went the fruit route. Twas perfect with this season’s peaches (but failed with earthy figs).
This is an easy start on moscato bianco, but there dozens of finer wines in our inventory made with various forms of muscat grape from Alsace & Provence, Italy, Spain, Australia, Greece and the U.S.…and not just for dessert.
Stuck on stickies: 375ml of Christmas
Pre-Order the 1927 Alvear Solera Cream Pedro Ximenez Sherry 375ml ($19.99) and 96 pts. by Parker!
Dessert wines, fortified and otherwise, are an ideal holiday gift. Most come in small packages of beautiful gold and they’re perfect fits for stockings. Great to give to party hosts too; they rarely get opened for the crowd and are saved for a special occasion (or two) when the recipients can savor them in peace and joy. Sweet.
Even the snootiest wine lover on your list rarely has many of them, so you may be giving a new treat.
The extra bargain is that stickies, as the Australians call them with honest childishness, often come in half sizes for smaller tastes of far more expensive bottling.
The choices are endless. In California Andrew and Laurel Quadyare the wizards. Essensia Eluzium.
In France, I love the muscats from Southern France. Italy offers Moscatosand sharper Vin Santo. In Spain, I look for wines made from rich Pedro Ximenezgrapes from Jerez, or my favorite Alvear.