Wines made from White muscat grapes of Lebanon
Discover the best wines made with White muscat as a single variety or as a blend of Lebanon.
White muscat is a white grape variety of Greek origin. Present in several Mediterranean vineyards, it has several synonyms such as muscat de Die, muscat blanc and frontignac. In France, it occupies a little less than 7,000 ha out of a total of 45,000 ha worldwide. Its young shoots are downy. Its youngest leaves are shiny, bronzed and scabrous. The berries and bunches of this variety are all medium-sized. The flesh of the berries is juicy, sweet and firm. Muscat à petits grains has a second ripening period and buds early in the year. It is moderately vigorous and must be pruned short. It likes poor, stony slopes. This variety is often exposed to spring frosts. It fears mildew, wasps, grape worms, court-noué, grey rot and powdery mildew. Muscat à petits grains is used to make rosé wines and dry white wines. Orange, brown sugar, barley sugar and raisins are the known aromas of these wines.
Lebanon is a Middle Eastern country with an ancient wine culture that has experienced a renaissance in recent decades. In 2011, about six million bottles of Lebanese wine were produced from 2000 hectares (5000 acres) of Vineyards. Modern Lebanese viticulture has moved inland from the ancient Phoenician port cities to the fertile Bekaa Valley. There are also a handful of vineyards near Jezzine, a few kilometres from the Southern end of the Bekaa, just inland from Sidon.
Some Cornas estates, like Domaine Clape, feel as ancient and unchanging as the granite hills themselves. Others, like Domaine Alain Voge, go through periods of flux. When this is due to vineyards being ripped out, bought or sold, then the whole profile of an estate can be altered. That’s not the case at Voge. Instead, it’s due to the coming and going of people and the unavoidable change that entails. I visited Lionel Fraisse, the current managing director at Domaine Alain Voge, to taste a select ...
Inside the January 2022 issue of Decanter Magazine: FEATURES: Aperitifs: how to do them well The art of starting it right, with drinks tips from Kate Hawkings Vintage preview: Chablis 2020 Andy Howard MW picks 33 of his top wines from a classic year in the region Producer profile: Château Angélus Jane Anson visits one of St-Emilion’s four finest grand cru classé estates Bordeaux & Burgundy vintages for Christmas Panos Kakaviatos & Charles Curtis MW select the perfect vintages and appe ...
Josh Jensen was famed for producing elegant, silky Pinot Noirs at Calera Wine Company on the Central Coast. Leading wine critic Robert Parker Jr once described Calera – the company that Jensen founded in 1971 – as ‘California’s Romanée-Conti.’ Jensen completed undergraduate studies at Yale, but his love of fine wine blossomed while completing an MA in social anthropology at Oxford University in the UK. He was a key member of the rowing crew at both universities, but he still found time to devel ...