Muscat (grape)

White Grain Moscatel often and Black Flyette

The muscatel grapes family includes some two hundred varieties of vitis vinifera grapes. They have been used in wine production and as raisins and table grapes around the world for many centuries. Its colors range from whitish (in Muscat Ottonel), to yellow (Moscato Giallo), to pink (Moscato Rosa del Trentino) and close to black (Hamburg Muscat). Muscat wines and grapes almost always have a pronounced sweet floral aroma. The breadth and number of Muscat varieties suggests that it may be the oldest cultivated grape variety, and there are theories that many vitis vinifera are descendants of Muscat.

Among the most notable members of the muscat family is the small grain muscat (or muscat blanc à petits grains), which is the main grape variety used in the production of the Italian sparkling wine Asti (also known as Asti muscat). Made in the Piedmont region. It is also used in the production of many of the French wines known as vin doux naturels (natural sweet wines). In Australia, this is also the main grape used in the production of Muscat liqueur from the Rutherglen wine-growing region of Victoria. Young, unaged and unfortified specimens tend to exhibit the characteristic muscatel aroma, as well as hints of citrus, rose and peach. Old, fortified examples (particularly those that have been barrel-aged) tend to be dark in color due to oxidation, with an aroma with notes of coffee, fruitcake, raisins, and caramel.

Muscatel of Alexandria is commonly used in the production of the French vin doux naturel, but is also found in Spain, where it is used to make many of Spain's fortified muscatel wines. On the other hand, it is used to make dry and sweet white wines, often made as muscatel in Australia, California and South Africa. In Alsace and parts of Central Europe, muscat ottonel is used to produce typically dry, strongly scented wines.

History

Although there are theories that the origin of the Moslem family dates from the old age, there is no solid historical evidence that the flyer was among the grape varieties cultivated by civilizations like the ancient Egyptians. (Image of a century daddyXV before Christ.

There are theories that trace the origin of the ancestors of the muscatel to ancient Egypt and early Persia (c. 3000-1000 BC), although some ampelographers, such as Pierre Galet, believe that the The muscatel variety family was propagated during the period of classical antiquity (c. 800 BC to 600 BC) by the Greeks and Romans. However, although domestic wine production has a long history in ancient Egypt and Persia as classical writers such as Columella and Pliny the Elder described varieties such as Anathelicon moschaton and Apianae as muscatel, saying they were very sweet and attractive for bees (Latin apis), there is no solid historical evidence that these ancient wine grapes were members of the muscatel family.

The first documented mention of the muscat grape was in the works of the English Franciscan Bartolomeo Ánglico, who wrote about wine made from muscat grapes in his work De proprietatibus rerum, written between 1230-1240., while he was studying in what is now modern Saxony, in Germany. Anglicus's Latin work was translated into French in 1372. It described "wine extracted from muscatel raisins".

Origins of the name muscatel

As the exact origins of the muscatel family cannot be established, theories about the origin of the word "muscatel" they are numerous. The most commonly cited is derived from the Persian word muchk. Similar etymology follows the Greek moskos, the Latin muscus and the French musc. The Italian word mosca, used for that insect, it may be a possible origin, because the sweet aroma of the grape and its high amount of sugar can be a common attraction for insects such as fruit flies.

Other theories suggest that this family of grapes originates from the Arab country of Oman and was later named after the city of Muscat, located on the coast of the Gulf of Oman. Another city that is sometimes suggested as a potential birthplace and origin of the grape's name is the Greek city of Moschato, located southwest of Athens in Attica, where "moschato" a common synonym in Greece for the muscatel variety.

Closely related varieties

Eisenstadt Moscatel (also known as saumur flyer), one of the relative variants of the ottonel muscat.

Of the more than 200 grape varieties that share the name muscatel (or one of its synonyms), most are not closely related to one another. The exception is members of the small grain muscatel and Alexandria muscatel families. At the turn of the 21st century, DNA analysis showed that Muscat of Alexandria was itself a natural cross between the small grain muscat and a dark-skinned table grape variety from the Greek islands known as axina de tres bias. Rarely seen outside of Greece, tres bias axin (also known as heftakilo) also grows in Malta and Sardinia.

The small-grain Muscat and Muscat of Alexandria grapes, likewise, have been crossed and have produced at least 14 different varieties, 5 of which are often cultivated in South America and 9 of which are still found in Italy, though none have a majority use in wine production. Most notable and widely planted descendants come from small grain muscatel and Alexandria muscatel crossed with other grape varieties such as Argentine cherry wine grapes, Rioja torrontés and San Juan torrontés living from the cross between Alexandria muscatel with listán negro (also known as mission grape).

The muscat of Alexandria grape was also crossed with the German-Italian trollinger grape (also known as shiava grossa) to produce muscat of Hamburg and malvasia from Lazio and with the Italian wine grapes catarratto bianco and bombino bianco to produce the vine from marsala cricket and sylvatic muscat respectively. Muscat ottonel is the result of a cross between a muscat variety, Eisenstandt muscat (also known as Saumur muscat), with the Swiss chasselas vine.

The small grain muscatel has been identified as one of the relative grapes of several varieties with another that is currently unknown. These include the Italian wine grapes Aleatico, Muscat Giallo, Muscat Rosa del Trentino, and Scanzo Muscat. DNA analysis identified the Toscana mammolo vine as the second relative variety that was crossed with small-grain muscat to produce red muscat de Madère.

Characteristics and confusion with other grapes

Despite the vast diversity in the muscatel family, a common trait can be seen in all the grapes of the muscatel family which is the floral characteristic, a grape aroma note that is caused by the high concentration of monoterpenes in the grapes. grapes. More than 40 different monoterpenes have been discovered in muscatel grapes (also in other aromatic varieties such as Riesling and Gewürztraminer); among these are citronellol, geraniol, linalool, and nerol. This characteristic muscatel aroma can be observed in light-bodied, low-alcohol wines such as Asti muscat that do not have their cluster heavily influenced by other winemaking techniques such as oak aging, yeast autolysis, malolactic fermentation, or fortification.

However, this common trait of Muscat has caused some confusion with varieties that are not related to the Muscat family at all and are often mistakenly associated with Muscat grapes (often by name and synonyms) due to their characteristic aromatic. This includes the German Muscat Morio vine which, despite its name, is not related to the Muscat family and is, in fact, a cross between Silvaner and Pinot Blanc. Likewise, to the high aromatic clonal mutation of some varieties of wine grapes such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chasselas and Chardonnay, the name Muscat is often added, which can add to the confusion that they are related to the Muscat family. The Bordeaux muscadelle vine, which is often used for both sweet and dry wines, is often mistaken for a muscatel variety due to its aromatic qualities. Although made from a grape with a more neutral aroma, the Melon de Burgundy grape, the Loire muscadet wine is often confused by the belief that it has been made from a member of the muscatel family.

Main varieties

The Muscat family is very large, with over 200 distinct members. Despite this diversity, however, only a handful of Muscat grape varieties are widely used in wine production. Among them are the small grain muscat, the Alexandria muscat, the Hamburg muscat and the ottonel muscat.

Small grain muscatel

Muscat petit grain, or muscat blanc à petit grains, is known by many other names around the world, including muscat blanc (in France and the United States), muscat canelli (in the United States), moscato bianco (in Italy), Muscat Frontignan (in South Africa), Moschato (in Greece), Brown Muscat (in Australia), Muskateller (in Germany and Australia), Muscat de Frontignan and Muscat Lunel (in France).

While "small grain" in the name describes the small size of its rounded fruits of the vine, the French muscat blanc is, for some wine experts such as Oz Clarke, because the vine is known for its frequent color mutation in the cluster of breeding, adopting almost all possible shadings, although it is considered that the fruits are normally an intense yellow after veraison. In some vineyards, small-grain muscat vines are known to produce clusters of differently colored fruit that change each season.

The exact origin of the small grain muscat grape is not known, although it may be in both Greece and Italy due to the proliferation of clones, mutations and progeny in those places. Today the grape has spread throughout the world production, producing with it a wide range of wines: light, sweet sparkling, semi-sparkling Asti and Asti Muscat from the Italian wine-growing region of Piedmont and the French region of Clairette de Die, fortified vin doux naturels from the south of France in regions with French designation of origin such as muscat de Beaume de Venise, muscat de Saint-Jean de Minervois and muscat de Frontignan, fortified muscat liqueur in the Rutherglen wine-growing region, in the province of Victoria, Australia, to dry wines such as Wachau wine from Austria and Südsteiermark.

Almost all of the most prominent sweet muscat wines in Greece, and especially those from the island of Samos and the city of Patras in the Peloponnese, are made with small grain muscat. In South African wine history, the famous Constantia dessert wine was made from this muscat variety and, although Alexandria muscat is today the most widely planted in South Africa, growers around Constantia, Cape Town district, they are attempting to reclaim some of the acclaimed wine-growing regions by replanting more small grain muscat and making wines in the original Constantian style.

Muscat of Alexandria

The fruits of the cluster of the Alexandria flytel are in a greater and oval way than those of the grain flyer.

Although the grape's name refers to the city of Alexandria and suggests an ancient Egyptian origin, DNA analysis has shown that the Muscat of Alexandria grape is the result of a natural cross between the small grain muscat and the three-biased Greek vine axina. Although tres bias axin has historically grown in Sardinia and Malta, the exact location of the origin of Muscat of Alexandria has not been determined. Compared to small-grained muscat, Alexandria muscat tends to produce large clusters of large, shadowy, oval fruits that are distinctive from the much smaller, round fruits of small-grained muscat.

Like many of the muscatel varieties, the Alexandria muscatel stands out as an appetizing raisin and table grape. This is due, in part, to the high tolerance of the grapes to heat and drought. Although it is used in wine production (particularly on the island of Pantelleria, between Sicily and Tunisia, where a passito-style dessert wine is made under the name zibibbo), the grape lags behind its reputation for the small grade muscatel. This is partly because Muscat of Alexandria is very vigorous and prone to high yields, that it can be easily overgrown, and that it has a firmer aroma profile due to the higher concentration of the monoterpene geraniol, which produces an aroma of geranium, and a lower concentration of nerol, which gives a fresher, sweeter rose scent.

In France, Muscat of Alexandria is more relevant as a blend component (with small grain muscat) in the Rivesaltes Muscat vine doux naturelle, with a French designation of origin in the Roussillon wine region.

The grape is the main muscatel variety in Spain although most plantations in that country use it for table grapes and raisins rather than for wine production. In Chile, most of the muscatel is used to produce aguardiente.

In South Africa, muscat is known as hanepoot and was the fourth most widely planted wine grape variety in the country during the early 2000s. Although some of the plantings were used for wine production, many plantings were used for the production of grape concentrate and raisins. In California, there continue to be more plantings of Alexandria Muscat than any other variety with many of those grapes going into anonymous Central Valley wine juices. As in many other places in Around the world, the grape had a long history of use in the United States as a raisin variety until the 1920s when Alexandria muscat plantings began to decline as growers switched to the more popular seedless grape varieties.

Hamburg Muscat

Hamburg Moscatel of a German viticulture text from 1895.

Although the vast majority of the muscatel family are dark-skinned grapes, many of the best varieties used in wine production are white or pale-skinned. These dark-skinned grapes are believed to originate from Victorian greenhouses in England, where they were first described in 1858 as being propagated by Sweard Snow, gardener to the Earl of Grey. Snow described the grape as a seedling that he created by crossing the black Hamburg grape (an ancient synonym for schiava grossa) with the white Muscat of Alexandria. In 2003, DNA analysis confirmed that Hamburg muscat was indeed a cross between Alexandria muscat and schiava grossa making the grape a full sister to the central Italian Malvasia grape from Lazio, with which it is closely related. kinship.

While Hamburg muscat is used mostly as a table grape around the world, there are two notable exceptions. The first is in California, where almost all of the 102 hectares of black muscat under cultivation in 2009 was devoted to wine production, mostly for making dessert wines. The other exception is in China where Hamburg muscat is a often crossed with the vitis amurensis species that are native to the region to produce wine grapes that are better adapted to the climate of various Chinese wine-growing regions.

Muscat ottonel

Like the Hamburg muscat, the muscat ottonel is a relatively recent addition to the muscat family. It was bred in the Loire Valley wine-growing region in the 1850s. The grape is a cross between the Swiss chasselas vine and Eisenstadt muscat (also known as Saumur muscat). Of all the most important muscatel varieties, the ottonel is the one that has a paler skin color, the one that tends to produce more neutral wines and is the variety that matures the earliest.

While varieties such as Muscat of Alexandria tend to thrive in very hot Mediterranean climates, Muscat Ottonel has shown an affinity for maturing in cooler continental climates and has found a home in many Central European countries such as Bulgaria, Republic of Czech, Romania and some countries that were members of the Soviet Union such as Russia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine. It is also the main variety of muscat that grows in the French region of Alsace, where it is used to produce both wines dry and not dry. In Australia, it is also the most widely planted muscat variety. It is used to produce late vintage wines around Lake Neusiedl.

UNESCO

The muscatel raisin grape from Axarquía (Málaga) has been declared a world agricultural heritage site by UNESCO.