2012 Bernabeleva Vinos de Madrid Cantocuerdas Moscatel 2012 500ml

Sweet. Like Albillo, Moscatel de Grano Menudo (Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains) was one of this area's popular traditional varieties, yet very few vineyards remain intact. The old texts apparently point to this region's Moscatel and Albillo as being popular vino precioso, or court wines, during the time of Cervantes. Anyhow... Bernabeleva's Moscatel comes from a small plot of 40-year-old vines in the deep sands of the Cantocuerdas vineyard, also home to the estate's Albillo vines. Isart starts by refrigerating the grapes for a couple of days before allowing the natural fermentation to take off. When the balance that Marc Isart [winemaker] is looking for is achieved, the wine is pressed off into mature French demi muids for ten months and, hey presto. It's a delicious, wonderfully scented dessert wine with dried flower, spiced orange, and apricot kernel characters. There's lots of cut and thrust and racy freshness and while the sweetness is there, it's actually very delicate (only 50 grams residual). It should work well with pork dishes, smallgoods, perhaps citron tart and milder cheeses.