Historically known as a dessert wine, Moscato has a slight fizz, flavours of nectarine, peach, and low alcohol which makes it easy to drink and great for aperitifs or anyone looking for something fun and fizzy!
The word Moscato comes from the Italian name for Muscat Blanc, which is one of the oldest wine grapes in the world! Because Muscat grapes are so old it’s possible to find them growing throughout the World, in countries including France, Italy, Austria, Greece, Israel, and even Australia!
Moscato d’Asti (semi-sparkling) is one of the most popular styles of Moscato, which originates in Piedmont Italy. Moscato d’Asti is light-bodied and sweet with tropical fruit flavours, light bubbles (often called frizzante by Italians), and alcohol levels around 5.5%. These wines have perfumed aromas of mandarin orange, ripe pear, sweet lemon, orange blossom, and honeysuckle. Asti Spumante is a sparkling wine also made from Moscato, both of these styles have Italy’s highest DOCG classification which ensures protected guarantee of origin.
Still wine versions of Moscato and made with Muscat Blanc grapes are often dry to taste and can seem sweet because of sweet and fruity aromatics. The low sugar content but sweet taste is great if you’re counting calories but still want to enjoy sweeter tasting wine.
Pink Moscato is a fun style of wine that is great for parties or a unique aperitif. Its usually made with Muscat grapes and a small blend of Merlot to add the ruby-pink colour.
Part of the reason for Moscato’s popularity in Asia is how well it pairs with spicy food, especially Sichuan, Thai and Vietnamese cuisine. Moscato handles spicy food with ease since the alcohol level is low and sweetness is high (in food pairing spicy food can make bold, high-alcohol wines such as cabernet sauvignon overly strong). Moscato works really well with aromatic spices like ginger, cinnamon, cardamom and chile peppers. For proteins, it works well with lighter meats like chicken and light flaky fish.
Check out our range of Moscato Wines.