Vine varieties: Muscat Gordo Blanco

Australia’s muscat of alexandria (70,564 tonnes in 2013) provides a more positively flavoured wine for cheap ‘cask’ blends than does sultana, but production is not likely to increase substantially (part is used for drying and part for grape juice). Muscat Gordo Blanco, in tandem with Gewurztraminer and Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, has a new-found use with the fashion for lightly sparkling, low-alcohol, slightly sweet wines labelled moscato, which in Australia can be made from any of the Muscat-flavoured varieties.