Muscat of Hamburg

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

Muscat of Hamburg is the lowest quality of the wine-producing muscats. dna profiling at conegliano showed that it is a natural cross of muscat of alexandria and trollinger (also called schiava Grossa). It comes exclusively in black-berried form and is far more common as a table grape than a wine grape. Its chief attribute is the consistency of its plump and shiny dark blue grapes, which can well withstand long journeys to reach consumers who like black-skinned Muscat-flavoured grapes. In France it was grown on 3,376 ha/8,339 acres in 2011 and was the most important table grape. It is also relatively important as a table grape in Greece, in eastern Europe, and Australia. It was extremely popular as a greenhouse grape in Victorian England, where it occasionally took the name of Snow or Venn, two of its more successful propagators.