Wines made from Muscat Ottonel grapes of Rheinhessen
Discover the best wines made with Muscat Ottonel as a single variety or as a blend of Rheinhessen.
Muscat Ottonel has the character of a grape variety with a distant lineage. It was first obtained in 1839 and continues to be planted in nearly 2,000 hectares of vineyards around the world. It shows good vigour and promises satisfactory production, of the order of 6 kilos per vine. The bunches, which are rather loose, are quite large, bearing berries with a strong character. A pleasantly musky flavour and a lot of juice characterize the pulp, protected by a medium skin. The bluish-black skin contributes to the exceptional beauty of the vineyards at harvest time. The size of the ellipsoidal berries is another argument in favor of Muscat Ottonel, which is also known as Muscat Ottone or Muscadet Ottonel. Resin, toast, honey and wild flowers are all present in the wines made from this variety. If the foliage, which turns yellow in autumn, is one of its charms, remember to protect the fruit from grey rot and coulure.
Rheinhessen is Germany's largest region for producing the quality wines of the Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete (QbA) and Prädikatswein designations, with roughly 26,500 hectares (65,000 acres) of Vineyard">Vineyards as of 2014. Many of its most significant viticultural areas are favorably influenced by the Rhine river, which runs aLong its North and eastern borders. The Rhine, along with the Nahe river to the west and the Haardt mountains to its South, form a natural border. Rheinhessen covers an area south of Rheingau, north of Pfalz and east of Nahe, and is located within the Rhineland-Palatinate federal state.
Last year, there was much mirth on wine Twitter about a particularly excruciating tasting note. You’re right. The wine trade needs to get out more. But still… this one was a beauty. It began well enough – really quite beautiful, in fact. But before long the imaginative descriptions were getting more ornate and strained. It moved from poetic to meaningless before finishing with a reference to Burnt Norton – the first of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets – that put it firmly in Private Eye magazine’s ...
Which offers more pleasure: a wine from a great vintage, but too young, inexpressive and closed? Or a wine from a modest vintage that’s mature, aromatically open and ready to drink? Surely there’s no contest. When it comes to enjoying the greatest Rhône wines, identifying the best vintages is the easy part. Knowing when best to open them is more difficult – but arguably more important. Here are four vintages that will benefit from further ageing, and four that you should consider drinking up. Sc ...
Rampant inflation, the global fuel crisis, recession fears and fiscal tightening from central banks have caused equities and bonds to tank over the past few months. Fine wine has significantly outperformed global equities and most commodities, but market momentum has been ‘much more subdued’ in the second quarter of 2022, said Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade. The Liv-ex 1000 – which tracks the performance of 1,000 leading fine wines – increased by 3.6% year-on-year in ster ...