I am a little late addressing World Moscato Day, which was May 9. I guess I had the good fortune to have so many articles written ahead of time that I forgot to look at the “Wine Lover’s Calendar” posted by the American Winery Guide. Moscato is probably the most popular version of the wine grape Muscat, which does seem to flourish world wide and there is around two hundred varieties of the Muscat grape, though only a handful are actually used in the making of wines.

I have to admit that I am not a big fan of the grape, though we try to have it in the house especially for large groups when we are having parties. There is always a segment of guests who are not partial to dry wines and prefer something on the sweet side, so rather than disappoint our guests, we try to accommodate their desires.

That is not to say that I shun the Muscat grape, as we sometimes start off dinner at a restaurant with a glass of sparkling or frizzante wine; and often times it is a Moscato di Asti from Italy. It is a refreshing wine that has a festive air about it and it is not too heavy or cloying for the dinner afterwards. Then there are times when I will have the same type of wine after dinner, as my dessert course, if there is not something special either for dessert or in a special dessert wine. A good fail-safe choice is Brogo Maraliano “La Caliera” Moscato di Asti NV which I have had both before a dinner and afterwards.

I can also recall a time, when my Bride surprised me about some Moscato, as she claims that she is not a fan of sweet wines, even after dinner, though she will often at least taste my dessert wine to see if she is missing out on something special. When we made our trip to Napa Valley some years ago, we were doing some serious wine tasting and on some days we might stop at six or seven wineries, of course with a break for lunch and some more wine. We stopped at St. Supery and that winery became one of her favorites to this day, when we can find it on a wine carte. We ordered at least a mixed case and there were a couple of bottles of wine that she insisted we get. She fell in love with St. Supery Moscato 2001 and guarded it, like it was gold, until it was gone. I am sure that there will be more Moscato wines in the future, as one never knows what is on the horizon.