Muscat is not one grape but the oldest and most widespread family of wine grapes on earth, with over two hundred members grown from Portugal to Australia. The finest is Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, responsible for Alsatian Muscat, the sweet Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, Italian Moscato d'Asti, and the wines of Samos. Muscat of Alexandria and Muscat Ottonel are its better-known relatives. What unites them is an unmistakable grapey perfume — one of the few varieties that genuinely smells like the fruit it comes from — alongside orange blossom, rose, and musk. It is made in every style imaginable, from bone dry and dusty to intensely sweet and fortified.
