Dry muscat is on the up as a stylish summery aperitif

Imagine a wine which actually smells and tastes of fresh grapes. This might sound odd, but muscat really is one of the only varieties with a flavour similar to biting into a beautifully ripe juicy bunch of freshly picked grapes.

The ancient muscat variety is very popular as a table grape, but also as a base for Italian sparkling Asti Spumante, sweet vin doux naturels like France’s Muscat de Beaumes de Venise and intensely rich fortified wines like Australia’s Liqueur Muscats.

However, it is dry muscat which is now on the increase as the grape makes very stylish, aromatic, fresh, dry summery aperitifs.

Dry muscat styles are popular in the Mediterranean, in Alsace in eastern France, Austria and Germany – and are now becoming popular in Chile, California and beyond.

There are in fact more than 200 different types of muscat grapes of varying quality.

The most ancient of these is the small berried “Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains” which gives grapey, floral and spicy character to the wine – and is particularly good for making dry wines with its ability to withstand hot weather. Its offspring (from crossing with Axina de Tres Bias) is “Muscat of Alexandria”, which is widely grown in Piedmont in northern Italy (called Moscato d’alessandria), Sicily (zibibbo), Spain and Portugal (moscatel).

The early ripening pale muscat ottonel is particularly popular in cooler microclimates in Alsace in France, as well as Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova.

All muscat varieties have one thing in common. The distinctive grapey muscat aroma – which, according to grape geneticist Jose Voumailloz gave the grape its name – deriving from the “musky” aroma produced by a gland of the male musk deer in Southern Asia which was once used to make a rare perfume – and it is nothing to do with the city of Muscat in Oman.

Dry muscat is tricky to make well, but winemakers are becoming more experienced with the high sugar levels in the grape – with an increasing number of interesting examples of dry muscat from around the world on our shelves.