Moscato and Civilization's Decline

[Waitman]

If you don't spend as much time in run-down bodegas as I do, trying to figure out which white wine under $10 will be drinkable with dinner that night, you may not have noticed that Moscato is now America's third most popular white wine, behind Chardonnay and and Pinot Grigio. Given that Pinot Grigio -- the world's most consistently awful major wine -- is now ubiquitous, it's somehow not surprising that something as terrible as Moscato has passed Sauvignon Blanc on the popularity scale. Some credit this surge to its growing popularity among rappers. Personally, though (and I'm sure there is actually some Moscato worth drinking on some rare occasions), I think it's another sign that the world is going to Hell.

Some things that are cool just aren't meant to be popular. Think about it.

Hippies had all those great clothes and good drugs and free love and all, but then psychedelia went mass market and we got the 70s. Bob Dylan is, in a way, responsible for America.

First Lower Manhattan and then Brooklyn were dangerous, delightful places and then they were discovered and became clean, expensive, annoying parodies of actual alternative culture.

At one point, wine was the province of snobs, connoisseurs and Europeans -- and, with just a touch of effort, you could find world-class stuff at reasonable prices. Now a bottle of classified Bordeaux costs $300 and valuable shelf space is being given over to Moscato, rather than actual potable juice.

I used to think that wine becoming more popular would lead to better selections at the low end, as quality producers worked to sell "Wednesday night" wines, as well as the Saturday night stuff. You know, the qualitative equivalent of the house wine at a good cafe. Sadly, in a vinous version of Grescham's law, animal label wines and now Moscato are pushing decent cheap wines off the shelf, so that the palates of the cretinous masses can be pleased.

Like Katy Perry and Huggie Boo Boo, another sign of national decline, if you ask me.

[Banco]

...you may not have noticed that Moscato is now America's third most popular white wine...

Christ, that is worrisome. I mean, a good Moscato can be delightful with certain cheeses or foie gras, but as a quotidian go-to white wine? Yuck!

[Waitman]

Christ, that is worrisome. I mean, a good Moscato can be delightful with certain cheeses or foie gras, but as a quotidian go-to white wine? Yuck!

Most frightening is the thought of what Sutter Home (which put me off pink wines for two decades with their "White Zinfandel") is putting in those little airline screwtop bottles.

[deangold]

I think Bronco Wine Company makes 5 diffferent flavors of Moscato... all probably from the same tank.

Try a good estate Moscato d'Asti like Marcarini, Lodali or Vietti: the stuff is fabulous for the money. Most of the American stuff is about as good as bloody kangaroo piss, even without tasting all of them. I am sure that bloody kangaroo piss tastes better than Sutter Home's "moscato".

If you want to drink American, Quady has a fine line of Moscati which are ignored as are most old line California wineries with 30 or 40 years trackrecord of fine winemaking in favor of the latest flavor of the day hyped by the Wine Regurgitator.

[jparrott]

(Full disclosure blah blah blah)

Moscato from Asti is also the base wine for the Cocchi Aperitivo Americano and the Cocchi Vermouth di Torino. Unlike Chambéry-style vermouths, which are intended to be light, herbal, and not particularly wine-focused, Piemonte-style aperitivos traditionally must have that lush character (which occasionally comes from one of the Malvasias as well. Watch this space.)