Muscadelle

Muscadelle is a white wine grape variety. It has a simple aroma of grape juice and raisins like grapes of the Muscat family of grapes, but it is unrelated.

Wine regions

In France, it is a minor constituent in the dry and sweet wines of Bordeaux, such as Sauternes. It rarely makes up more than 10% of the blend, which is dominated by Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc. Throughout the 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century, plantings of the grape were falling. Some sweet wines from Monbazillac, on the other hand, can have a higher proportion of Muscadelle.

In Australia, where it is known as Tokay, the grape is used to make an increasingly popular fortified wine, sometimes known as Liqueur Tokay. Those made in the Rutherglen region generally receive considerable aging in hot cellars, leading to a maderised and oxidative character. A few other Australian wine regions, including the Barossa Valley make similar wines. A few other Australian wineries use the Muscadelle to make table wines in a similar way to French wineries.

The name, Tokay, convinced some Australian producers that the grape was Pinot Gris (which used to be called Tokay by producers in Alsace). Others thought the grape might have been Hárslevelű, one of the components of the famous Hungarian sweet wine Tokaji. However, it has been proven that Australian Tokay is Muscadelle.

References