“Wine tend to go through cycles,” says Jessica Tomei, winemaker for Cupcake Vineyards, “Having said that, Moscato is still a strong category for us. A 2017 Silicon Valley Bank report on the state of the American wine industry noted, “whenever growers follow a trend, it is seemingly already over right at the time the plants are producing.” Moscato still sells well, but its breakneck growth has tapered to a modest pace. Many producers copied the Italian sparklers with cheap, derivative wines from high-yield vines. In 2012, Nielsen reported a 100 percent jump in sales for sparkling Moscato in the U.S., which inspired California farmers to add new plantings.īut booms often go bust. Sweet, fragrant and fizzy, it’s easy to see why Moscato rose from obscurity to fashionable in a few short years. Muscat grapes on the vine in Spain / Getty Where does moscato stand today? Less ripe, greener grapes are designated for Asti, guided by the theory that the wine’s sparkling nature and residual sugar will compensate. Moscato d’Asti has earned a reputation for superiority because it receives the healthiest, ripest grapes to create the wine’s delicate, floral style. Unlike Asti, Moscato d’Asti is frizzante, or semi-sparkling, and can safely be sealed with a regular still wine cork.ĭepending on the producer, the other perceptible difference is quality. Asti is semi-sweet and higher in alcohol, at around 9% abv.

It can be easy to confuse wines from Asti DOCG and Moscato d’Asti DOCG, but there are distinct differences. It's Time to Take A Fresh Look at Lambrusco “The grape was first officially recorded in the 13th-century on statues in the town of Canelli.”Ĭhiarlo likes working with Moscato since, he says, “it is a native grape that produces a wine that is neither too heavy, nor too sweet and pairs well with more than just dessert.” He believes these attributes are the secret to its huge success on the international market. “The Moscato Bianco variety has called Piedmont home for centuries,” says Stefano Chiarlo, enologist at family-owned Michele Chiarlo. Moscato d’Asti at Michele Chiarlo / Photo courtesy Michele Chiarlo It’s been called a “winemaker’s wine,” as they often fermented it for personal enjoyment. 2 variety grown in Piedmont behind Barbera, and many Barolo producers have long made Moscato d’Asti. It may come as a surprise that such a lighthearted wine hails from the same region famous for Nebbiolo, a grape elevated to its highest expression in savory, tannic, ageworthy Barolo and Barbaresco. “The challenge has been opening people’s eyes to the fact that Moscato can exist outside of the category of ‘sweet wines,’ ” -Heidi Barrett, La Sirena

They burst from the glass with apricot, peach, tangerine, rose, orange blossom and even lychee, with a singular “grapey” quality seldom found in other wines. Its signature, however, is in its aromatics. In the case of Moscato d’Asti, that style is fresh, fruity, gently fizzy, sweet and low in alcohol, at around 5% abv. In 1993, it earned Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) status, Italy’s highest wine classification-reserved for the country’s most classic, expressive wines.ĭOCG certifies that the wine comes from a delineated place, is made using a specific method and uses traditional grapes.

The Moscato d’Asti appellation is located within the northwestern Italian region of Piedmont. It’s also the variety responsible for the most recent Moscato boom as the base of Moscato d’Asti, the style that many commercial brands seek to emulate. Moscato Bianco (a k a Muscat blanc à Petits Grains, Muscat Blanc and Muscat Canelli) is considered the noblest of the family and has been cultivated for at least 800 years. Multiple varieties grow throughout Italy and the world, and are made into still, sparkling, sweet and fortified wines. The word “Moscato” may conjure images of sweet, pink bubbly wine, but it’s technically just the Italian word for the Muscat family of grapes. Yet, Moscato held court long before that, and will do so for a time long to come. Six years ago, headlines boldly declared America to be in the grips of “Moscato Madness,” before the wine tumbled out of fashion. Take the recent arc of Moscato, a wine from Italy with a storied history. Pop culture has the uncanny ability to turn lovely, enduring ideas into superficial fads.

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