Descriptor: aromas of ripe melon, tropical fruit and white flowers, with a knife-like edge of tartness slicing through the wine’s honey sweetness like a nibble of underipe pineapple.
Basic factors influencing this style:
Goes well with sweet and savory dishes, especially foie gras.
Moscatel de Grano Menudo (France’s Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains) has been cultivated here for centuries, but Navarra’s fresh and lively vino dulce de moscatel is a relatively new style–a category promoted by Navarra’a Viticultural and Oenological Research Lab (EVENA) in the 1980s and which, according to one prominent American observer, two pioneering wineries, Chivite and Ochoa, “refined into an art form.” Other Navarra wineries subsequently followed suit, producing an approachable, vibrant, golden-hued modern style of dessert wine.