It seems each time I sample a dry Muscat I remind myself I should drink more dry Muscat. There are few varietals more aromatically expressive although it can get a bit too perfumed at times. Muscat is actually a family of grapes, with many varieties, and is usually made into a sweeter wine, some lovely, some insipid. So it’s often overlooked as a dry wine.
If you’re going to drink dry Muscat, no one does it better than the Alsatians and the iconic Zind Humbrecht.
The palate is rich and concentrated with the characteristic “grapey” flavor highlighted by lemon. It’s rose on the nose with a focused scent of ripe apricot.
The wine’s journey in the mouth sets it apart. A round, rich greeting of ample fruit features a contrasting top layer of stony minerality, but this lush ensemble is slowly disrupted by textured dry extract creeping under the floorboards like a hungry cat. The result is an active but elegant oscillation between layers that keeps you entertained through the long, crenulated, finish which takes a fetching delicate but slightly bitter turn at the end.
Amiable but with plenty of brio punctuated with periods of passion, grace, and delicacy, Dreams by the Cranberries makes it resonate.
Technical Notes: from mostly Muscat a petite grains harvested from the Herrenweg vineyard on the valley floor, planted in the 1950’s
Score: 92
Alc: 12%
Price: $19 (Purchase here)
Exploring the Philosophy of Food and Wine 