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What's the fastest growing U.S. wine category, the darling ofhip-hop artists and a popular alternative to concord grape wine atJewish Passover seders? It's moscato, a sweet, lightly fizzy, low-alcohol wine made fromthe muscat grape, which is also used to make raisins. Last year,Moscato sales grew by 73 percent in food, drug, convenience andretail chains, the largest gain of any varietal, according toNielsen Co. statistics. One audience is "millennial" consumers, ages 21 to 34, who make up26 percent of Americans of legal drinking age. These young adultsare used to drinking sodas and other sweet beverages, so Moscato isan easy entry wine for them. Moscato is also trendy because of the attention it's getting fromhip-hop performers, including the St. Lunatics, made up of St.Louisans Nelly, Murphy Lee, Ali, KyJuan and City Spud. In 2010, thegroup launched "Freaky Muscato" made by Ste. Genevieve's CrownValley Winery. The wine has also made it into hip-hop lyrics: Forexample, Ab-Soul raps, "When things get hard to swallow, we need abottle of Moscato." Although muscat grapes are grown all over the world, the best knownMoscato comes from the appellation of Moscato d'Asti DOCG, locatedin the southeastern part of Italy's Piedmont region near the townof Asti. Moscato d'Asti DOCG is different than Asti DOCG, which waspreviously called Asti Spumante. Wines labeled Moscato d'Asti are made in a style known asfrizzante, which means slightly fizzy. Fermentation is stopped atan early stage to keep some of the sugar from turning into alcohol.That process keeps the level of sweetness high while the alcohollevel is low. Moscato d'Asti is fermented in stainless-steel tanksand generally has a regular still wine cork. According to Paul Hayden, wine manager of the Wine and Cheese Placestores, the 2011 Cupcake Vineyards Moscato d'Asti DOCG, priced at$9.49, is one of the best-selling moscato wines in the chain. ThisItalian wine is made for the Livermore, Calif.-based Cupcake, whichpartners with growers and winemakers throughout the world. I enlisted some colleagues for a tasting to compare the CupcakeMoscato with the 2010 Beni di Batasiolo Bosc dla Rei Moscato d'AstiDOCG, priced at $14.99. Although the wines were similar, wepreferred the body and flavor of the Cupcake Moscato d'Asti. Both wines have a 5.5 percent alcohol level and were quite sweet.The Cupcake has nutritional information on the back label showingthat a 5-ounce serving has 121 calories and 16 grams of sugar. Bothwines would go well with desserts. We tasted the Batasiolo first. It had a dense mouthfeel and waslightly effervescent. My colleagues said it reminded them more ofapple or white-grape juice than wine. "It's good, but I couldn't drink a lot of it," said Sue Sassmann. We found that the Cupcake was livelier, with hints of peach andpineapple flavors as well as a bit more fizz. "It's more complex and lighter," Lou Ann Wilcox said. "It's not assyrupy.". The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Paper Cup Making Machine , Jewelry Making Tool Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit Bag Making Machinery today!
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