Sweet taste of success

It happens to plenty of diners towards the end of a sophisticated and wine-soaked meal: they want a glass of something sweet and unctuous, just one small glass, to go with their apple tart or sticky pudding.

When they turn to the list, all that is on offer is a prohibitively expensive Sauternes, an old Tokaji, or a glass of heavy port. Why, they wonder, can't there be something that sounds a bit more fun?

In a restaurant that has discovered the sheer variety of sweet Muscats, there is bound to be fun and plenty of choice. The Muscat grape makes a more diverse and eclectic range of sweet wines than any other variety. The styles produced from it range from light and crisp sweeties, to match with fresh fruit, to rich and sticky elixirs that can hold their own with chocolate or strong cheese.

Either way, it is a grape that, while lacking the deep complexity and sophistication of a botrytised dessert wine such as Sauternes, can be relied upon to deliver a lively and interesting mouthful.

The family of Muscat vines, which has spread its tentacles across the wine-making globe from Alsace to Australia, is believed to number more than 200 members. The most famous of the lot is the Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains vine, responsible for the sweetish Italian fizz of Moscato d'Asti, some of the Australian Muscats and the fortified vin doux naturel of the southern Rhône, Muscat de Beaumes de Venise. It also forms part of the blend for Muscat de Rivesaltes, Languedoc-Roussillon's local fortified vin doux naturel.

The other part of this blend is a different Muscat vine, the Muscat of Alexandria. Spain's best-selling Moscatel is principally made from this variety, which creates most of the sweet and sticky wines from Valencia and Malaga. In Alsace, Muscat is usually produced as a dry wine that smells and tastes of fresh green grapes, just right for a crisp aperitif wine or to drink with fresh asparagus.

But, as a dessert wine, Muscat is a true chameleon, as Caterer discovered when we tasted an extraordinarily mixed bag of 25 sweet wines.

The tasting

Caterer's panel tasted 25 wines, many of them either vins doux naturels from France or the wines that Australians have cheerfully nicknamed "stickies", liqueur Muscats from Rutherglen in Victoria.

We also looked at a sparkling Muscat from France, some interesting and unusual Californian Muscats, and several Spanish dessert wines. We did not taste Asti Spumante or Moscato d'Asti on this occasion, deciding that this was a group large enough to warrant a separate tasting in the future.

The panel

The expert tasting panel comprised Gerard Basset, proprietor of the Hotel du Vin &Bistro, Winchester; Kate Smith, proprietor of the Beetle & Wedge in Oxfordshire; Mark Walter, head sommelier at New Milton's Chewton Glen; Simon Numphud, general manager of Hollington House, near Newbury; wine and food writer Susy Atkins; and Caterer's wine editor Fiona Sims.

The venue

We tasted the wines blind, in the sumptuous surroundings of the morning room at Hollington House. Proprietor John Guy has an impressive line-up of Muscats already on his own wine list, many of which walk off the list. To spice up the proceedings further, Guy produced a couple of barrel samples for the tasting (not listed) which were extracted a few days earlier on a buying trip in his native Australia.

The verdict

Although the stars of the show were some of the Australian liqueur Muscats, tasters were pleasantly surprised to discover so many good Muscats among the European wines. "There were delicate, fragrant wines among the French Muscats," said Kate Smith. "The Aussie wines were a little heavy and overpowering by comparison."

Gerard Basset agreed, concluding that a few of the Australian Muscats were slightly disappointing: "a bit dirty and lacking in acidity". Mark Walter agreed that a couple were "simply treacle".

Nevertheless, the results of the tasting showed that some wines from Rutherglen were exceptionally good. These complex and intense stickies would be perfect for matching with "sticky puddings" (Mark Walter) or with "pruney puddings" (Fiona Sims).

The lighter French and Spanish wines "could be served as aperitifs", observed Kate Smith. They would make good partners for fruit desserts, in particular, decided the panel.

The tasting certainly showcased the diversity of the Muscat grape. Tasters were all impressed by the fact that such a wide range of dessert wines had been made from just one variety. Although there were some complaints about the inconsistent quality of the wines in general (several bottles received very poor marks indeed, so follow our recommendations carefully), the general consensus was that if you turned to Muscat, you'd never be stuck for a sticky again.