Trite April Fools Day Wine

Some wines just fool you. Dry Muscat comes first to mind.

Muscats have rich ripe floral and fruit aromas that are reminiscent of sweet fruit salad. You sip them and they are head shakingly dry. No sweetness on the palate at all. Fools me everytime. Most wines made from Muscat family grapes are made sweet or sweet and bubbly. The dry ones from the Alsace, Marcel Deiss is a master,but 30 a bottle are fun to drink. I do like to bring them out and fool wine geeky friends and serve them with dessert. I giggle when I watch them take a big sip and at first they are about to say that the wine is off, but they quickly realize I have duped them again. Haha, wine geek fun.

I must admit I was fooled badly the first time I had one, but I was congratulated for the "closest guess". On an early 1980's trip to Alsace, I was visiting the Lorentz estate, at the time one of the largest suppliers of good quality Alsace wine to the East Coast. After a great tour of the winery and the region by the grandfather, he never left Alsace but his nationality changed 4 times in his lifetime, we had a lunch at the estate and had a tasting of old wines after the meal. The last wine was the guessing one. My guess, a 1953 Pinot Gris, they all giggled at me and congratulated me for best guess. The wine, a 1928 Muscat. At that age all the fruity-floral aromas had faded away and we were left with a stunningly delicious dry white wine. I was only off by 25 years and the grape variety, everything.

Later I found out that the only strain of Muscat that ages that well is Ottonel. I have successfully aged some Muscat Ottonel over 10 years and have met with similar success. Fools the wine experts every time.

Alas, I have yet to find a food item that really sings with this floral dry bouquet of a wine. Just enjoy it for what it is. A fool ya.