Muscat works the gamut of wine styles

GEOGRAPHERS, and those with an interest in the Arab world, will recognise Muscat as the capital of Oman. However, for winelovers Muscat is an aromatic white grape variety grown widely across Europe (and around the world), responsible for a raft of different wine styles.

There are a number of Muscat variants, the most highly regarded being Muscat Blanc a Petit Grains, a smallberried version, and parent to many of the others. This is known by a staggering number of synonyms, with the Frontignac of Australia, the various Moscatels of Spain, the Moscato and Zibibbo of Italy, the Moschato variants of Greece and many, many others all being Muscat Blanc a Petit Grains.

In trying to describe this grape, I have to use the term ‘‘grapey’’ as it really is like biting into the ripest, juiciest grapes you’ll ever come across.

Distinctively floral and frequently spicy, it works across the gamut of wine styles, though is commonly found with a degree of residual sugar.

Some of the most distinctive examples are lusciously sweet: many are made using the ‘‘passito’’ method, where the grapes are sundried first to dehydrate them, creating lusciously viscous elixirs, while the ‘‘vin doux naturel’’ styles of France are fortified wines, the addition of spirit arresting fermentation and retaining the majority of the natural grape sugars.