Winemaker Notes
While Muscat comes in a wide range of styles from dry to sweet, still to sparkling and even fortified, it's safe to say it is always alluringly aromatic and delightful. The two most important versions are the noble, Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, making wines of considerable quality and Muscat of Alexandria, thought to be a progeny of the former. Somm Secret—Pliny the Elder wrote in the 13th century of a sweet, perfumed grape variety so attractive to bees that he referred to it as uva apiana, or “grape of the bees.” Most likely, he was describing Muscat.
Moldova is a tiny country between Romania and Ukraine. Though it was geographically the smallest state of the former Soviet Union, it had the second largest area under vine only after Ukraine, its large northeastern neighbor, and was Russia’s largest source of wine through much of the 20th century. Petrified grape seeds and amphorae dating to 2,800 BC have been discovered in Moldova, proving it to be one of the world’s oldest producers of wine. White wine comprises a little over two thirds of production; imported European varieties are most prevalent for both white and red wine.