Moscato and nutmeg

Moscato wine is wine made from a grape of the muscat family. That family includes several varieties. The most important is moscato bianco, called muscat blanc à petits grains in France and moscatel galego branco in the Douro. There is also muscat d'Alexandrie, known as moscatel de Setúbal in Portugal.

The same grape produces very different wines. In Piedmont it is made into lightly sparkling and sparkling wine with little alcohol. In the south of France, Greece and Portugal, muscat is often fortified with grape spirit, so that part of the natural sugar remains in the wine.

Both come from the same Piedmontese area and are made from at least 97 percent moscato bianco, but Asti is fully sparkling (spumante) and Moscato d'Asti is lightly sparkling (frizzante). Moscato d'Asti may not have more than 2.5 atmospheres of pressure.

The alcohol content differs too. Moscato d'Asti has a minimum of 4.5 and a maximum of 6.5 percent actual alcohol; the rest remains in the wine as grape sugar. Asti has a minimum of 6 percent actual alcohol. Both wines ferment in a closed pressure tank using the Martinotti method. There is also an Asti made by the traditional method, with the second fermentation in the bottle and at least 9 months on the yeast cells.

DOCG is the highest Italian designation of origin. Asti became a DOC in 1967 and received DOCG status in 1993. Both Asti spumante and Moscato d'Asti, both from Piemonte, fall under that one designation.

The rules lay down, among other things, the grape, the alcohol content and the method. For Moscato d'Asti a total potential alcohol content of at least 11 percent applies, or 12 percent for wine from a subzone. A large part of that is not fermented: at least 4.5 percent potential alcohol remains in the wine as sugar, about 80 grams per litre. For Asti spumante the potential alcohol content is at least 11.5 percent.

These are sweet muscat wines from France and Greece. Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise is a vin doux naturel from the Southern Rhône, from the communes of Beaumes-de-Venise and Aubignan. The wine is made exclusively from muscat à petits grains. During fermentation pure grape alcohol is added, the mutage, which leaves natural sugar in the wine. The grapes must contain at least 252 grams of sugar per litre. The AOC has existed since 1945.

Samos has been a protected designation of origin since 1970 on the Greek island of the same name, for wine made from 100 percent white muscat. There are three types: vin doux, vin doux naturel and vin naturellement doux from sun-dried grapes.

Moscatel is the Spanish and Portuguese name for muscat. In Portugal, Moscatel de Setúbal is the best known. That wine is fortified with grape brandy once the desired sweetness has been reached, then stays on the skins for three months or longer and ages for at least 18 months in large wooden casks. If the grape name is to appear on the label, the wine must consist of at least 85 percent moscatel.

In Spain, moscatel de Alejandría and moscatel de grano menudo are permitted within the DO Valencia. From moscatel de Alejandría they make vino de licor moscatel there, also called mistela de moscatel. The same grapes also yield dry, partly fermented and sparkling wines.

From Piemonte there are the Moscato d'Asti DOCG from Batasiolo and Asti Spumante DOCG and Moscato Spumante from Filipetti. There are also moscatos from Bottega (Vino dell'Amore) and Zebo. From France come a Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise and the Canon du Maréchal Blanc, a wine of viognier and muscat.

From Spain there is the P5 Muscat de Gra Petit from Can Bas, from Greece the Samos Muscat from Cavino Deus, and from Hungary the Late Harvest from Royal Tokaji, which contains yellow muscat alongside furmint and hárslevelű. If you are unsure which bottle suits an occasion, call the shop or drop by at Brink 2 in Bathmen.

The shop is at Brink 2 in Bathmen. Open Tuesday to Friday from 09.00 to 18.00 and Saturday from 09.00 to 17.00. For advice, call 0570 541 278 or email info@bockje.nl.