How do you feel about Moscato, the often fizzy, often sweet wine made from the Moscato grape primarily grown in northern Italy that has its day today? For many, it’s a love-hate relationship — people either love it like our friend Myr, or hate it like Sue. However, “hate” may be too strong of a word these days as over the years we have found several moscato that aren’t the norm and which she has loved– or at least appreciated! Because Moscato is far from Sue’s favorite, and Moscato Day is Sue’s birthday, we were just going to do a cursory nod toward Moscato Day — until I mentioned it to Sheila Donohue of Verovino Imports who enthusiastically supplied us with samples of three that we just had to try– with Myr too of course! 

Memorable Moscato 

• 2019 Mosketto Frizzante Rosato, Piedmont
• 2021 Ivaldi Ros du Su Moscato D’Asti DOCG–organic!
• 2021 Thaya Vinarstve Muskat Moravsky, Czech Republic —organic!
• 2020 Case Corini “Ciabot del Moreto” Moscato Orange Wine, Piedmont–organic!

Menu for Moscato 

• cheese plate: various pecorino, nuts, mortadella, green olives  
• salad: citrus and anchovies with fennel seed and olives
• appetizer: mussels with saffron
• pasta: pancetta and pecorino  
• crostini: with garlic and olive oil
• see how this menu went with Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo! 

2019 Mosketto Frizzante Rosato, Vino D’Italia

ABV: 5%
SRP: $12
Grapes: Moscato and Brachetto
Importer: Mack & Schuhle
sample for my review 

What makes this Moscato memorable? This sweet and effervescent “Mosketto” is actually a combination of Piedmont grown Moscato and Brachetto making it a Rosato! Naturally both bubbly and low in alcohol, the wines is made in the classic way but fermentation is stopped for fizz and low ABV. don’t be afraid to pair this wine with food!  

Appearance:  Delicate pale pink with gentle bubbles.

Aroma: Cherry, fennel, meadow, chamomile, orange blossom. 

Palate: Very floral, quite sweet, tangerine, a bit simple yet pleasant. 

Pairing: We felt that this would be a great cocktail wine. Sue wanted to mix it with gin and soda water. Great with our cheese plate as it loves the salty pecorino. I liked it also with the Italian truffle cheese from Trader Joe’s, but we found it really favors salty briny foods, like olives, and it was very nice with the pasta’s salty ham and herbs: the fresh sweet basil works so well with the wine. Remembering how well mussels work with sweet Bordeaux, we were pleased that the mussels were sweetly enhanced by the super sweet wine.  

The mussels and moscato make a really fun pairing for your friends or family who enjoy sweet wines with a meal.

2021 Ivaldi “Ros du Su” Moscato D’Asti DOCG

ABV: 5%
SRP: $20
Grapes: Moscato
Importer: VeroVino
sample for my review 

What makes this Moscato memorable? Farming!  Ivaldi practices regenerative farming and is certified as a sustainable winery. In the Piemontese dialect the name of the wine “Ros du Su” translates in English to ‘Rays of Sunlight.” We’d add — “in the spring” to the name because that’s what we found in the glass also! 

Ivaldi also makes a sparkling Alta Langa chardonnay using the champagne method which we wrote about here SRP $40 (check out the fun festive bottle!), and recently I tasted  their Nizza which is like a Barbera riserva SRP $28 which we paired with a truffle oil infused burger–YUM.

Appearance:  Gentle bubbles, golden, pale straw

Aroma: Springtime in a glass with soft and floral like flower petals, peach, honey, honeysuckle, jasmine, acacia, chamomile, very pretty, fresh, and surprisingly refreshing.

Palate: Very sweet honey, there is a textural feel of honey yet the bright acidity balances.  

Pairing: The wine really responds to the salty elements on the cheese plate, great with the salty pecorino, the olives, it is a bit overpowering to the mortadella, very nice with the truffled pecorino, great with the rosemary almonds. While sweet Asti may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it does work with the meal, and the saffron in the mussels mellows the sweetness in the wine so both together to be very balanced and nice. The saltiness from the olives and anchovies in the salad with the toasted fennel seeds is just the perfect pairing to the wine as both the wine and the salad have a sweetness and an herbaciousness which work so well together.

Don’t dismiss sweeter wines when you’re thinking about food pairings as this wine shows!

2021 Thaya Vinarstve Late Harvest Muskat Moravsky, Czech Republic

ABV: 12.0%
SRP: $20 
Grapes: Organic Muskat Moravsky
Importer: VeroVino Inc
sample for my review 

What makes this Moscato memorable? While most Moscato are somewhat sweet and fizzy and from Italy, Thaya’s is an off dry white wine from the Czech Republic that’s also organic and made naturally! But even more memorable is that this wine is made from the Muskat Moravsky grape which is a cross between Muscat Ottonel and Prachtraube giving the Czech Republic its own born and bred Muscat found rarely anywhere else. Usually it’s picked early to retain acidity, but this one is a late harvest.

Appearance:  Golden, pale yellow, 

Aroma: A bit of funky sulphur hot springs, then herbal, fennel, sage, hay, geranium. 

Palate: Dry yet also sweet on the palate, bright acidity, herbal, grass, meadow grass, fennel, eucalyptus, rose geranium, lime.

Pairing: Interesting on its own, but we appreciated this wine so much more with food. Absolutely fantastic with the truffled pecorino cheese. With the Italian truffle cheese, the cheese gets a bit gummy but had a great flavors together. Perfect with the olives, very good with the salad as the fennel and the citrus is so elevated from the salad and the geranium in the wine is enhanced.

The meal was great with the wine across the board. And that’s says something!

2020 Case Corini “Ciabot del Moreto” Moscato Orange Wine, Piedmont

ABV: 15.5%
SRP: $55
Grapes: Moscato farmed using the organic and regenerative Metodo Corino 
Importer: Verovino
sample for my review 

Appearance:  Bright orange, copper rim, a bit cloudy, translucent. 

Aroma: A fascinating and intoxicating blend of fresh orange, mint, funk, orange blossom, honey, bee pollen. 

Palate: Orange, mint, sage, honey, orange blossom, golden raisins, enveloping tannins, dry yet sweet, bright acidity, nicely balanced, Very interesting fantastic wine, honeycomb on the finish. This is not an everyday wine. It is a special wine that should be experienced in a very special way. 

Pairing: The truffled pecorino and the wine is intense meets intense, the salty pecorino was also a bit much for the wine, nice with the mortadella, it wants mellow flavors because the wine is so bold, it did do well with the Italian truffle cheese from Trader Joe’s, the olives were nice with the wine, The tannins from the wine bring out the sweetness in the mussels making them so nice together,  apricot sweetness and pith become apparent in the wine, every bite of the meal becomes even better than the last bite when sipping this wine, this complex meal is equally matched by this complex wine, the fennel in the salad enhances fennel flavors in the wine, followed by a piece of garlic crostini there is then an apricot in the wine.

A Moscato that your wino and foodie friends will swoon over!  

Happy Moscato Day!

And Happy Birthday to Wine Predator self-described “scribe” Que Syrah Sue!! She is the backbone of this blog with her culinary creativity in the kitchen, her tasting note-prowess, her grace under pressure, and her ability to keep us focused not he tasks at hand.  We’ve been tasting 4 or more wines a week 50 weeks or so a year for over 10 years for wine Predator, Slow Wine guide, and other outlets plus media tastings and lunches in LA plus press trips in France and California. Wow! We are so lucky to do this and I am so fortunate to share this with Sue. 

Cheers!