Grape: Moscato

This has settled in very nicely, it is an expansive dry Muscat with aromas that take in lychee, orange, honeysuckle and lavender; the palate delivers these nuanced flavours with some restraint. It is an extraordinary, ethereal expression of the variety.

908 bottles made

The English Winemaker producer page

This is pure Moscato Bianco di Canelli, a highly developed biotype of Muscat that has been the focus for Canelli vine growers since the 1600s. Villa Giada’s Moscato vines are planted on a southeast facing slope at an altitude of 320 metres, the soils are chalky and the vines are kept well ventilated by constant breezes.
Mascot’s grapes are from the heartland of the newly created Moscato Cru, ‘Moscato Canelli’, the pinup for Moscato d’Asti. (A low alcohol sweet and frothy white, very lovely and enormously successful and the antithesis of this wine.)
The vines were harvested by hand, enough grapes to fill one 10 hectolitre (1000 litres) steel tank. A quarter of the bunches were left whole, the remainder went through the de-stemmer and were crushed. The fermentation started spontaneously, the temperature was moderated by the mass of whole bunches which acted as a natural break. The juice went through a complete fermentation leaving close to no residual sugar. The wine then remained on the skins for 63 days, during this period it went through a full malolactic conversion. The wine was then pressed using a traditional basket press and returned to rest in the steel tank. It was racked just after Christmas and bottled on 30th January 2019, no fining and no filtration and an absolute minimum of sulphur. There is some light sediment, you will see it, the bottle is clear – it is easy to avoid by pouring carefully, it can be mixed into the wine or left as an interesting last glass, all are good options.