St. Supery Vineyards

St. Supéry’s winemaker Michael Beaulac tells me he doesn’t have to do much to sell this wine, because according to him, it flies out the door of the Rutherford winery. Which to me is an amazing thing because Americans don’t much cotton to dessert wines; nor do they know very much about Moscato.

But the truth is, once you get a whiff of this wine’s lovely pear-apricot aromas, and then get a chance to taste it…well, it’s no wonder it has become one of St. Supery’s most popular wines (second only to its Sauvignon Blanc, one of the best selling wines of its kind in America).

I had this Moscato, which is made from 100 percent Muscat Canelli, with a strawberry, rhubarb, mango feuilleté (a puff pastry) and let me tell you – the wine played the perfect foil. The tart/sweetness of the dessert’s fruit played off, but was not overwhelmed by, the pear-apricot popsicle of the wine. That’s because the Moscato has only (I’m guessing) about 2-to-3 percent residual sugar, so it is not cloying, and its back end is perfectly balanced with a goodly amount of acidity. Lastly, the alcohol is relatively low – 11.5 percent – making it a perfect summer sipper.

The Moscato grapes in this wine come from varied North Coast sources: 67% Mendocino County, 20% Lake County, 13% Napa Valley – hence the label carries the broad “California” appellation designation.

Reviewed June 15, 2006 by Alan Goldfarb.