Folonari Moscato
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The Folonari Moscato has a fresh bouquet of white fruit, herbs and spice followed by a refreshingly sweet palate of peach, pear, honey and melon.
Folonari was founded in 1825 by Francesco Folonari. The company and vineyards first grew in Valmonica in the Veneto region of Italy. In the laterhalf of the 19th century, Francesco and his sons moved to Brescia in the verdant alpine foothills between Lake Iseo and Lake Garda, establishing one of Italy’s finest winemaking facilities and securing a worldwide reputation for quality.From the very beginning, the Folonari family wanted to create wines accessible to everyday tables. They pioneered the production and distribution of wine in bottles, which made it easier for people to enjoy consistently high-quality wine whenever the mood struck. A bottle from the Folonari winery made on one day was certain to be just as excellent as a bottle produced the next, or in a few weeks, or in a few months. This philosophy of bringing exceptional wines to everyday occasions continues to guide Folonari today.
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.
One of the most iconic Italian regions for wine, scenery and history, Tuscany is the world’s most important outpost for the Sangiovese grape. Tuscan wine ranges in style from fruity and simple to complex and age-worthy, Sangiovese makes up a significant percentage of plantings here, with the white Trebbiano Toscano coming in second.
Within Tuscany, many esteemed wines have their own respective sub-zones, including Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. The climate is Mediterranean and the topography consists mostly of picturesque rolling hills, scattered with vineyards.
Sangiovese at its simplest produces straightforward pizza-friendly Tuscan wines with bright and juicy red fruit, but at its best it shows remarkable complexity and ageability. Top-quality Sangiovese-based wines can be expressive of a range of characteristics such as sour cherry, balsamic, dried herbs, leather, fresh earth, dried flowers, anise and tobacco. Brunello, an exceptionally bold Tuscan wine, expresses well the particularities of vintage variations and is thus popular among collectors. Chianti is associated with tangy and food-friendly dry wines at various price points. A more recent phenomenon as of the 1970s is the “Super Tuscan”—a red wine made from international grape varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah, with or without Sangiovese. These are common in Tuscany’s coastal regions like Bolgheri, Val di Cornia, Carmignano and the island of Elba.