Moscato and Malvasia

I have been promising to do an article on moscato so here it is, finally! Moscatos and malvasias are the ultimate girly wines. I haven't met a chick yet who doesn't love them. If you are not a big wine drinker, but you would like to start getting into more wine, moscato is the perfect wine to cut your eye teeth on.

Moscato is a sparkling, white, dessert wine and while it doesn't have as much fizz as a champagne, it is a quite a bit sweeter than champagne. The taste always reminds me of fig newton bars mixed with pear. Moscato is made from the Muscat grape and typically comes from Italy although muscat grapes are also grown in Spain, Chile, Australia and other countries and those countries produce their own versions of wine from them. Asti Spumante also comes from the muscat grape and is similiar to moscato with the exception of a little more fizz. My favorite high end moscato wine is the Bartenura brand. They make both a moscato and a malvasia. St. Supery also makes a great moscato. A bottle of this wine will run anywhere from twenty dollars to six dollars a bottle. The Barefoot brand of moscato is the lower end and that brand also has a good flavor. You can pick up a bottle of that for about five or six dollars. Try some moscato with some bleu cheese and put those taste buds to work! Malvasia wine is another dessert wine that tastes a lot like moscato. Sometimes this wine is white and other times it is a blush color. Bartenura makes the rose-colored malvasia. Malvasia wine comes from the malvasia grape that originated in Greece in the fourteenth century and was then called "malmsey" wine. The grapes were brought to Europe and the word was changed to "malvasia" which was the name of an Italian wine port city. In some cases, the grape is dried before they make the wine, which just makes the wine sweeter. I found a great malvasia at the liquor store for $6.99 a bottle called "Le Duca."Sweeter wines seem to be gaining popularity these days. I have never been a person who really enjoys a super dry glass of wine. I can appreciate the taste and the flavors but it is hard for me to really sit down and drink a whole bottle of merlot unless I am planning on sleeping very late the next morning! The nice thing about moscatos and malvasias are that they have a low alchohol content so if you are looking for a light party sipping wine, these are perfect.