Unless you are a winemaker, you are probably unaware of how difficult the Muscat variety is to handle. Grape berry slip-skin is a major problem as is striking the exact balance of skin contact for extra flavour without phenolic pick-up. The proportions of alcohol, sugar sweetness, acidity and mousse on the mouthfeel are very difficult to get into harmony. And it is vital to have properly ripened and healthy fruit to ensure a top quality wine. With the price pointing for this category of wine being quite low, there is the temptation to use sub-standard fruit. Sugar can hide a multitude of winemaking sins. This is why many examples of sparkling Muscat are sweet and poor wines, not fit to put in the mouth. Even in Piedmont, there are many releases of Asti wine that that are close to industrial garbage!

We offer two Australasian sparkling muscats that are exemplary and compete with the best Asti Spumante wines from Italy. These show great skill in winemaking, and the benefits of modern, clean, New World winemaking:

Soljans ‘Fusion’ Sparkling Muscat NV
Probably now the best label in this wine category made in New Zealand. Winemaker at Soljans, Mark Compton was part of the team that developed Montana’s ‘Bernadino’, the first ‘serious’ commercial attempt at a genuine Asti Spumante style. Mark has brought his expertise at honing the ‘Fusion’ label for Soljans, and with great success, the wine now a regular high medal winner, in fact taking gold at last year’s Royal Easter Show Wine Awards. Dr Hogg Muscat fruit from a single vineyard on Tucker Road, near Ormond, Gisborne, was picked and processed locally at GisVin to control the all-important skin contact regime. Mark has lowered the alcohol content to 8.0% and taken great care to achieve a natural balance of the 80 g/l residual sugar with 5.8 g/l acidity and a pH of 3.4. It all works remarkably well, and the wine is a true delight. Pale coloured, this has a fineness, firmness, concentration and delicacy not normally found in Muscat wines, which tend to blowsiness. The aromas of florals and minerally-musk entice and allow one to sip without tiring. And unusually, the tightness suggests some ability to develop further in the bottle, say 3-4 years.

Brown Brothers Zibibbo NV
Brown Brothers arguably are the Muscat table wine specialists of Australia and have a mind-boggling array of styles from the variety, well-recognised labels being the ‘Lexia’ and ‘Orange Muscat’ – blended with Flora. We have extolled the sheer drinkability of the Brown Brothers Moscato, an interpretation of the artisanal Moscato d’Asti style of north-east Italy, at the beginning of summer. The Zibibbo is Brown Brothers’ take on Asti Spumante and an excellent one at that. Zibibbo is a synonym for the Muscat of Alexandria grape, and this wine was tank fermented and bottled soon after secondary fermentation to capture as much of the fruitiness of the grape as possible. The wine is a mere 6.0% alc and carries 99 g/l residual sugar balanced by 5.9g/l acidity with a pH of 3.1. Pale coloured with a very fine mousse, the bouquet is classic and fully expressive Muscat with its grape, herb and tea-leaf aromas. The wine is sweet, yet the sugar is kept beautifully in check by the fine acidity and a degree of built-in restraint. The wine carries a gorgeous creamy texture and finishes with raisin and herb nuances. The dryish finish is very pleasing.