Source: AP. By Michelle Locke
August 2, 2010

Call it Moscato momentum.

An old grape is winning new fans as more people turn to the sweet, floral wine that's easy on the purse and the palate.

"It's kind of hitting that tipping point," says James Nunes, managing director of marketing at Sutter Home Family Vineyards in the Napa Valley. Sutter Home has been making a moscato since the '50s and it has always sold well, but in the last year sales have taken off, he says.

Nationally, in the last year sales of moscato were up nearly 79 percent to just over 1 million cases in food store sales, says wine industry consultant Jon Fredrikson of Woodside-based Gomberg, Fredrikson and Associates. That's still only a fraction of the market; chardonnay sales, for instance, amounted to almost 16 million cases for the same period.

But it's a significant increase, and welcome news for an industry that hasn't had a lot to cheer about lately.
"It's exciting," says Fredrikson. "People are always on the quest to find the latest new thing and it's caught on because it's a drink that almost everyone is going to appreciate."

Sweet and light with overtones of citrus and orange blossom, moscato is known as a crowd-pleaser. It's also picked up some pop culture buzz with a mention in a song by the popular rapper Drake.

Moscato is Italian for muscat, a grape that is believed to be one of the world's oldest. There are several different types of moscato; in Italy, moscato d'Asti is the base wine for the sparkling wine Asti, formerly called Asti spumante. California moscato wines are usually still, not sparkling, and pair well with fruit desserts.

"It's a secret weapon wine because it allows you to please the people who want a little bit of sweetness in their wine, but knowledgeable folks can also appreciate the beauty of moscato," says Leslie Sbrocco, wine writer and founder of Thirsty Girl.

There are light, low-alcohol "frizzante" style sparkling wines from Italy. Major producers in California include Sutter Home and Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi, which make still versions that go for less than $10 a bottle.

Moscato also is available at the higher end. Heidi Peterson Barrett, former winemaker for the famous "cult winery" Screaming Eagle, makes a dry version, Moscato Azul, under her La Sirena label.

"It is uber high-end and coveted," says Sbrocco. "It's absolute elegance in a bottle."

Barrett is known for her red wines -- the Screaming Eagle cabs she made sell for hundreds of dollars a bottle. But she's "always had a soft spot in my heart for those kind of tropical, perfumey flavors."

So, some years ago she started making a dry moscato, using grapes grown on a rocky hillside near Calistoga. The wine smells sweet and floral but is crisp on the palate. Production is small, about 500 cases a year, and the price is $30.

"It really is a labor of love," she says. "We make a lot of friends with that wine."