OK guys, let's talk muscats.

[hedgehog]

[GoneOffShore]

1. Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, perhaps?

One of my favorite dessert wines.

[MiddleFingerMom]

2. I had always associated muscat with muscatel (a cheap cheap wine)...

.
.
.
...and I had always thought of "dessert wines" as some sickeningly sweet
cheap wine like a Mogen David, but I had dinner at a REALLY fine restaurant
here in Tucson (Janos) and they served muscat as a complimentary finish
to the meal. I don't know the vintner nor year... I'm certainly no oenophile
(just check my police record).
.
It was EXCEPTIONAL. Small (tiny) glass of it.
.
.
MUCH too tiny.
.
.
.

[GoneOffShore]

5. Muscat grapes produce some remarkable wines

there are dry Muscats and sweet ones and sparkling ones.

Both the French and the Italians do some wonderful things with the varietal.

Some of the finely crafted sweet wines can "live" a very long time time. We recently had a 1989 Clos Baudoin Vouvray that was excellent - the sweetness had moved into almost a carmelly bitterness that was really interesting.

The Hungarian Tokaji are good as well.

You can't drink a lot though. Well, you can, but you may end up with the same morning after effect that you'd get by drinking a lot of MD2020.

[MiddleFingerMom]

6. This was a sparkling variety... and much more delicious than ANY champagne I've ever had. n/t

[GoneOffShore]

7. I'm sure it was delightful.

I'm a fan of all wines (well, except Russian wine).

Don't get me started on Champagne - If it's good, it's wonderful and bad, bulk produced, sparkling is dreadful.

I'm particularly fond of the really super dry Champagnes - the kind known as "zero dosage" - where they don't put any sweet wine into the Champagne after it's been aged. Not to everyones taste, I'll admit.

Look for Gruet - from New Mexico - it's a sparkling made in the French style and they do various grades of sweetness. I can get it here on the East Coast for as low as 13 a bottle.

[nolabear]

3. MMMmmmmm.... Muscat love.

[LynneSin]

4. One can lose their DU Cool points for making Muskrat Love puns

seriously!