Muscat

\Moos-caht\ (French) Also known as Muscat Blanc, Muscat Canelli, Orange Muscat, Muscato, Muscat is almost certainly the oldest cultivated wine grape variety. It was established in France (Gaul) by the Romans, and may have been brought to the Marseilles region by the Greeks. If any where can be said to be Muscat’s homeland it is Greece. This is the Muscat that predominates in Italy where it is known as Muscato where it most often serves as the underpinning sweet sparkling wine industry. (Think Asti Spumante and the subtler Moscato d’Asti.) Grown in many countries, including Austria and Germany where it is known as Muskateller, and in Hungary as Muscat Lunel. In France it’s known as Muscat Frontignan. It well may be the oldest known grape. It’s been confirmed as growing around the Mediterranean for centuries.

On the nose and in the mouth Muscat sings of orange flowers and spice, citrus, peaches, tangerines and lychee fruit. In the United States this late-ripening, warm climate variety is mainly used to make semi-sweet and sweet dessert wines. Muscat wines are usually not quite as syrupy or voluptuous as other dessert wines but, instead, are riotously fresh and full of racy mandarine orange, melon, and apricot flavors. Try them with any dark chocolate dessert, and, remembering where the grape originally came from, you might try a Muscat with the Greek baklava.

These wines are great summer quaffers on a hot day. They are not cloyingly sweet and they have just enough acidity to make them refreshing. Be sure to slightly chill them for optimum enjoyment. Just pull up a piece of shade, a hammock, and a good book and enjoy. They are also a great introduction to wine for those who think they won’t like wine, or think that wine is always too dry and caustic. One sip and they’ll be hooked.

In the U.S. it’s grown in California, Washington state and Oregon, and a few places east of the Rockies.