Winey Tasting Notes: Ding Dong! Moscato Calling!!!

Wouldn’t this be nice?

One of the pure joys of being a Winey blogger is that every so often, your doorbell rings and you open it to find the friendly UPS or FedEx delivery person holding out a signature pad. Which can only mean one thing: they’ve got wine samples for you!!! Yippee!! Wine must be signed for by someone over the age of 21, a fact which has embarrassed the Winey Daughter on occasion as she has to turn around and yell for me or the Winey Hubby. One day neither of us was here and you’d have thought it was the end of her dignity as we know it. (Why yes, dear, actually we did plan it for your maximum discomfort.)

One day the ringing of the bell produced a box containing a pair of pretty bottles from Australia. Southeastern Australia, to be exact. One bottle contained Moscato. The other contained Pink Moscato. A set of Moscato delivered right to my door!! Whoo hoo!

These came courtesy of Banrock Station, part of the family of Accolade Wines. The folks down under at Banrock are extremely committed to the environment – practicing it while they make wine and donating to environmental causes worldwide. So you’re sipping for good while you’re sipping these wines. Always a plus. But this just begs an answer to the question: How does the wine taste?

I’ll start with the Pink Moscato (2012, 6%, Australia). The nose was pure berries. The taste opened up to reveal strawberries with some pink grapefruit around the edges. The wine felt thicker in my mouth than I expected though. Not as bubbly as other Moscatos. The bubbles were there, they were just a bit sluggish and very tiny. The finish was of key lime – not full on tart lime, more of the mellower key lime. If you like sweet wines you will love this one. A lot. The flavors are full and rich, and the feel is very rich and thicker than other Moscatos I’ve tasted.

The bottle of Banrock Station Moscato (2011, 5.5%, Australia) had a nose of tangy citrus (grapefruit, lemon) with just a hint of flowers. The flavors were of pink grapefruit and peach and the flowers returned again, but just at the edges – just a hint of them. The bubbles were there this time too, but in a subtle way – more lively than out and out bubbly. Very refreshing. It finished with a very juicy taste that left you wanting another bottle! I was sharing this bottle with two other wine lovers and we were all kind of eyeing the last few drops. I am happy to report that we didn’t come to blows over them, but another bottle would have been really, really helpful. Not to mention delightful.

So my pair of Moscatos took me on quite a Moscato ride. If you like the sweeter, rounder, lusher style – pour the pink. Need a spritzy refresher? Pour the white. You really can’t go wrong with either. Unless you run out like we did. That’s just wrong.

Cheers!

I was sent this wine for sampling purposes. The opinions are my own.