"it's the wine world's equivalent of milk chocolate or soggy white bread, a sneakily guilty pleasure." Fiona Beckett/The Guardian
Recently we were in Aldi looking for a rosé - I felt like drinking a rosé and remembered that the cheap Aldi South Point rosé was quite nice. However, by mistake we bought the South Point Pink moscato. Which we tried anyway, but agreed that it was just too sweet. Now I'm guessing we could take it back to Aldi and swap it for the ordinary rosé or something else altogether, but we ccouldn't be bothered. It's a problem because we bought - I think - three bottles. And I don't think we are going to drink it. Pretty though it is. Mind you Dan Murphy's seems to think that it's perfect for various unexpected things:
"Moscato wines are fresh and sweet, ideal for pairing with bitter, spicy, salty, and sour foods. Think grilled pork tenderloin, Indian curries, and spicy pasta dishes. Due to its sweet flavour profile, Moscato is also an immensely popular dessert wine. Sip some alongside meringue, pavlova, or a spiced apple crumble." Dan Murphy's
I'll go with the dessert wine idea, but not the savoury ones so much. Though maybe it's worth a try next time we have a curry. The Guardian's drinks columnist Fiona Beckett seems to think it's a dessert thing however:
"Pour a glass while watching Wimbledon and dipping into a punnet of strawberries, and you'll see how it hits the spot."
and she suggests an Italian Moscato"
"Suri Sandrinet, Cerutti 2011 (£11.95; 5% abv), which tastes of liquid honeysuckle and makes you feel like you're wandering through meadows of freshly mown grass."
The thing about rosé, which is why we bought it, is that It's pretty, cool and puts you into a summer holiday mood. And it is so varied as it seems to be able to be made from just about any grape. So I looked up Moscato - the Italian version of wine made with the Muscat grape - in Wikipedia and found that it is very ancient:
"The breadth and number of varieties of Muscat suggest that it is perhaps the oldest domesticated grape variety, and there are theories that most families within the Vitis vinifera grape variety are descended from the Muscat variety." Wikipedia
And Moscato which comes from Piedmont and which makes the Asti wines, comes in all colours ranging from the palest white to the darkest red. But what we have is pink.
So I looked for inspiration and didn't find much. What I found falls into two groups - actual recipes from here and there, although the only one from anybody well known was this Ruby red raspberries in chardonnay jelly from Nigella, which I featured a while back when I was talking about her book Forever Summer. Well I guess the idea is that it would be equally good with Pink Moscato. A few people suggested using it for barbecued beef, which seems a little odd, but the other main choice was fish - Poached salmon with pink moscato butter sauce/Gourmet Girl Cooks
Moscato mussels with spaghettini/Fooby. The photographs are not great, which possibly indicates that the professionals are really not into this as an ingredient.
There was slightly more to choose from in the sweet end of the meal - and also, of course, there were lots of drinks, which I'm ignoring. Strawberry moscato layer cake/Life, Love, Sugar;
Pink moscato pannacotta with pistachios/Lala's Kitchen and Moscato cupcakes/delish - although this seemed to be the most popular way of using Moscato.
And then there was Reddit, where you can find everything from the obscene to the really quite interesting and the most valuable general advice:
"Poach some pears or some apples? Go hang out in a hot tub in the 90s?" hamsterbeaters
"Reduce it to a syrup and out it on ice cream?" SevereImpression1386
"you can make a red wine vinegar. for this you have to dilute the wine to 10% and then let it stand in an open vessel for about 8 weeks." dudelpudel
"gently reduce a portion with a good bit of dissolved sugar and some lemon juice over low heat until thickened, and turn it into sorbet. I've had that before and it was awesome. Alternatively doing a syrup reduction mixed with some chardonnay vinegar and a good cooking oil, and you've got yourself a fine floral fruity vinaigrette." portobox1
Or the ultimate advice - "It’s still wine: just use it to cook with." user6876
I have grown to admire the Reddit people over time. Sometimes what they say is useless, and occasionally obscene or at least tasteless, but on the whole you can often find some good advice in there. Their overwhelming choice however, was Sangria - if you are into that.
Or gift it. Well you can hardly do that with a wine that cost just $4.99 can you?
YEARS GONE BY
December 3
2023 - Nothing
2022 - Sides
2020 - Nothing
2019 - Impromptu needs planning
2018 - Can lazy be good?
2017 - Christmas cake
The Aldo Moscato was surprisingly delicious. The $4.99 price tag gives the wrong inmpression. If it sold for $14.99 you would think it entirely acceptable. A dessert wine not as rich as a botrytis, but also easier to drink with a dessert! Try it.