Six moscatos that will make you reconsider this oft-maligned style

Moscato is jokingly referred to as ‘lolly water’ and those who drink it are often snickered at. Why is a wine that’s been cultivated for hundreds of years in Piedmont, Italy, and is, by all accounts, extremely difficult to craft, so frequently snubbed? A combination of factors, from the price of the wines to the perception of quality, and the overall marketing of the variety as easy to make, all come into play. 

Wine Australia guidelines released in 2016 specify that only 13 different muscat varieties may be used for moscato production. Moscato arrived in Australia as part of the James Busby collection in 1832, but there is documentation of newer cuttings coming from other sources, including Italy and South Africa. In Australia, the most commonly used clones are moscato giallo, muscat of Alexandria (also known as gordo), muscat blanc à petits grains, orange muscat and black muscat. 

Marketing in wine has a lot to answer for. Just as colour isn’t indicative of dryness in rosé, price is not always indicative of quality (nor of time and effort). The perception that ‘cheap’ grapes go into making moscato and that it’s easy to craft couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Katherine Brown, Brown Brothers.

For over 20 years now, Brown Brothers have been producing moscato, making them one of the first Australian wineries to do so commercially. And, not only does the style make up almost 40 per cent of their domestic portfolio today, the Brown Brothers Moscato is one of, if not the, biggest selling white wines in the country. For vintage 2025, the Brown Family Wine Group brought in around 6000 tonnes of all their moscato variants; mostly muscat of Alexandria. It’s safe to say they know a thing or two about the tricks this wine likes to play on winemakers. 

“Making moscato is a mental game," says Katherine Brown. "There’s a certain point we want to stop it at (whether that be an alcohol point or a sugar point) and we can’t just ‘stop’ the ferment as we would with other wines. We actually need to ‘slow’ the ferment down. It’s almost mental gymnastics – even after 20 years, we hold on tight and pray everything works out the way we want it to.” 

It’s not just the traditionalists trying their hand at moscato. In 2022, Sam Berketa, head winemaker at avant-garde South Australian winery Alpha Box & Dice, decided to finally give into his love for the much-maligned variety. “I love moscato, and I’ve wanted to make one for ages. It was pretty much trial and error, though. I looked at the ones I really liked and I knew I wanted to capture those fresh and lively characters alongside those lovely skin contact characters.”

Using muscat blanc à petits grains from the Adelaide Hills (which, Sam explains, is an early-ripening variety), he leaves it on skins for around three to five days to extract terpenes and bring more of the grape’s natural florals to the forefront. 

Sam Berketa, Alpha Box & Dice.

Both Sam and Katherine agree the trick to making balanced and lively moscato that’s not overrun with either green characters or overly sweet notes is to keep the ferments cold. Sam explains: “The trick is to keep it really cold, and added sulphur dioxide helps with the gun smoke/flinty characters.”

This level of thought and craftsmanship is often overlooked when talking about moscato. The style’s food pairing potential is also often disregarded. The more spritzy examples make excellent aperitifs that aren’t as dry as traditional Champagne or vintage sparkling wine. Moscato’s floral notes pair wonderfully with seafood, such as lobster in a butter sauce, and the juicy fruit sweetness may be the answer to matching with aromatic and heated spices that are the bane of food and wine pairing. 

It’s also the original low-alcohol wine. “Regardless of current trends, I love that moscato is low in alcohol, yet remains so full of flavour and vibrancy,” says Katherine. 

In a world of cerebral drinking, where wine nerds like to analyse and ‘pull apart’ wines, there’s something to be said for a wine that is well-crafted, easy drinking and just plain delicious. The kind of wine for lounging on couches with a mountain of cheese and charcuterie – low in alcohol, flavoursome and equally refreshing. It’s time to give moscato its dues and maybe shout its winemakers a well-earned drink; it sounds like they deserve it. 

This article first appeared in issue #65 of Halliday magazine. Become a member to receive four issues per year, digital access to over 180,000 tasting notes from more than 4000 wineries, plus other benefits.

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