Moscato Bianco

Intensely floral, sparkling, sweet (usually) and low alcohol (also usually), Moscato Bianco is more than just a light-hearted fun sparkler for after dinner.  It is, rather, the parent of all the other Moscato grapes, and a grape of significance in the history of Italian winemaking.

Wines are honeyed, floral (white rose, honeysuckle, jasmine) and fruity (pear, grape, apricot) with the best examples, generally from older vines, showing herbal aromas and pine. There is considerable delicacy in the aromas, but the wine is vinified sweet, leaving unfermented sugars, making it low alcohol.  A second fermentation takes place in the bottle, creating the sparkle. Serve ice cold with fresh fruits and creamy desserts or ice cream.

Moscato can also be vinified dry and still, with a more typical alcohol content.  Dry Moscato can be utterly delicious, but vinifying dry from highly aromatic grapes like this carries the risk of developing a bitter note.

The most famous region for Moscato is the Monferrato, around Asti. Here Moscato d’Asti is awarded the highest status of DOCG, and there are sub-zones, Canelli, for example, which can be named on the bottle. UK customers can buy Moscato d’Asti DOCG Canelli from the best producer, La Morandina, over at Cuculo Cheese & Wine.

Elsewhere, it can be found in Tuscany under the appellation of Moscadello di Montalcino DOC, and in Sicily at Noto DOC, Siracusa DOC and others.

However, of most interest to MTW guests is its presence, first recorded in the sixteenth century, on the steep slopes around the towns of Nus and Chambave in the Valle d’Aosta. Try these wines on your trip to Aosta, whether on The Five Days of the Matterhorn, where you actually walk through the vineyards, or on Heart of the Italian Alps. Or both.