Muscat Wine, the Oldest in the World

Muscat is a whole family of grapes, with more than 200 different types. All of them have a sweet fruity taste and a musky aroma. Winemakers in Chile use it for table wines. In Italy, it is used to make sparkling wines and it is a favorite in California for making sweet dessert wines.

Muscat grapes can be white, different shades of brown or black. Muscat grapes grow best in areas with a temperate climates such as Australia, California, France, Greece, Italy and Spain where they can be harvested late in the season which allows the grape to reach maximum sweetness. Wine made from the Muscat grape is always sweet, but can be either light or heavy and will have a strong aroma and musky flavor. However, when used as the base for other wines, it can produce a light dry wine.

The Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, AKA Muscat Blanc, Muscat Canelli, Muscat Bianco and Muscat Frontignan
is believed to be the first one of the Muscats and is used to make sweet and semi sweet dessert wines like the popular Asti Spumante.

Black Muscat Grapes are known as Black Hamburg, Golden Hamburg and Muscat Hamburg. It is most used as a table grape, but in places like Yakima Valley in Washington State, Fair Play, Grand Valley, Carmel Valley, Madera, Columbia Valley and Mesilla Valley they are used to make fine wines.

Muscat of Alexandria AKA Moscatel Gordo Blanco or Zibibbo, Hanepoot is another ancient variety that is thought to have originated in North Africa. It is planted mostly in California where it not only produces wines, but the famous California raisins as well. Most of the wine comes from the Central Valley. It is not considered to be one of the best and is often blended with other wines to give them a more powerful aroma. But, in locations such as Spain and Portugal high quality sweet wines are produced.

Muscat Ottonel is more tolerant of cold weather than most of the other varieties, growing in areas like Austria, Alsace, Ontario, British Columbia and the Finger Lakes. It produces a wine with a lighter color and lighter aroma than other heavily aromatic Muscat varieties.

New York Muscat Grape was developed in Geneva, New York and is also grown in Nova Scotia. It produces a high quality sweet white wine, dessert wines and ice wines. It is also known to produce a find dry wine as well.

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Muscat types

Muscat History