Very nicely done piece by EricAsimov today on Alsatian Muscat:
NYTimes:AlsaceMuscat
Now if only I can track meself down a btl of that rare Barefoot Moscato so’s I can find out what real Muscat is all about.
Tom
Thanks for the link, very interesting and nicely written.
I’m not sure I favor the Alsatian style of Muscat. I had some Alsace Muscats in the last few months, the 2006 and 2007 Muscat Grand Cru Goldert from Zind-Humbrecht, the 2010 Muscat Grand Cru Altenberg de Bergbieten by Frederic Mochel and the 2007 Muscat Clos Rebgarten from Marc Kreydenweiss.
Even though the 2007 Goldert from Zind-Humbrecht had really nice Muscat aromatics (the 2006 was atypical because it was strongly affected by Botrytis), I think its style is fairly unique. The same is true for the 2010 Altenberg de Bergbieten. Both seemed pretty substantial to me and just on the border of acquiring a slightly bitter note. Both very good, but maybe not my absolute favorite style. Maybe I personally like a lighter style a bit more. My rolemodel dry to off-dry Muscats come from Germany from Bernhard Huber and Rebholz, both in fairly light Kabinett style.
For me, by a good margin, the “best” Alsace muscat is that from the grand cru Brand made by Domaine Albert Boxler. Not sweet, but great concentration of fruit with distinctive muscat style. Always a treat to have one…in Alsace or at home. 2001, 2002 and 2005 were all excellent Boxler muscat Brand vintages. (Also like and have some Barmes-Buecher from the same vintages.)
A really special grape in Alsace., IMO.
I like Muscat from Alsace, but it is all too often a blend of Muscat Blanc a petite grains and the high-yielding (earlier and more certain to boot), fatter, less sophisticated Muscat Ottonel. In Germany, the greatest Muscat (Muskateller) are always pure Gelber Muskateller (Muscat Blanc a petite grains) and the wines are much the better for it. Precise, usually quite dry, lean in texture, and aromatically superior at around 11% alc. My favorites are Müller-Catoir which continues to produce amazing Muskateller even after the departure of that grapes greatest master, Hans-Günter Schwarz. Rebholz makes an even better wine –both more intense and more complex –than M-C. It should come as no surprise that Hans-Jörg Rebholz learned under Schwarz. In this case the student has surpassed the teacher, but both remain bench-marks for the style. Fritz Becker and Meßmer (also a Schwarz student) make slightly sweeter styles, but both are nevertheless great wines. Incidentally, Schwarz still makes Muskateller from a plot here in the Haardt called 17 Zeilen (17 rows). It is vinified at von Winning, but the few hundred bottles produced annually get snapped up pretty quickly by restaurants and friends here in the Pfalz. The 2011 was astonishingly good and the 2012 not far behind. It (Gelber Muskateller) is a difficult grape that is prone to botrytis, which doesn’t work well for a dry style (though rot can be disguised in sweeter wines). I think that the trick for a good site is finding sand, but perhaps a heavier subsoil (clay or limestone) would also work. The idea being thicker skins with more aroma and less sensitivity to botrytis. Normally the wines are whole-cluster pressed in Germany to help retain acid -no need to macerate as the grapes have enough aroma to go around.
The vineyard area remains small so there isn’t much fanfare, but Germany without a doubt makes the greatest dry Muscat in the world.
It should be noted that there is a little Goldmuskateller (Moscato Giallo) and Rotermuskateller that is being planted these days, but only in very small quantities and made more as curiosities.
Cheers,
Bill
I buy and drink quite a bit of Muscat. So far I find the Boxler Brand and the old Hans Gunter Schwarz versions from Catoir to be the best I have ever tasted.
I like Boxler a great deal so I’ll have to track down their Brand muscat. The once or twice I’ve had H-G S. era M-C Muscats they’ve been very good and were marked, for me, by an interesting basil note to the bouquet.
But the best Muscat I’ve ever had was Zind Humbrecht’s 1994 Goldert, in 2003 or 2004; dry, intense, aromatic but not in the pretty, floral vein (which I ordinarily like about Muscat), just a really excellent, intriguing white wine.
I’ve said it before often, but Navarro’s Muscat Blanc is one of my favorite California white wines. Very dry with tremendous aromatics. I know its not from Alsace, but its an awfully nice wine.