Grape · Mediterranean
Muscat
MUS-kat
Grapes that smell like grapes
A family, not one grape. Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains is the noble one: orange blossom, fresh grape, and styles from bone-dry Alsace to sparkling Asti to dessert Beaumes-de-Venise.
- fresh grape
- orange blossom
- mandarin
- rose
- ginger
Profile
Bodylow
Acidmedium
Sugaroff-dry
Most people meet Muscat as something sweet. Dry Alsace Muscat is a revelation with asparagus and spring vegetables. Moscato d'Asti is low-alcohol, gently fizzy, and a proper dessert. Clairette de Die, Moscatel de Valencia, and orange Muscats of California fill in the map.
It is the rare grape that smells like table grapes. That is terpenes, not a fault.
Fruit, lightly spicy food, and not too much oak — Muscat hates heavy barrels.
At the table
Service
43–48 °F (6–9 °C). Sparkling even colder.
