Wolf Blass built its name on the Yellow Label range, and this is the lightest thing wearing it: a sweet, gently fizzy Moscato from South Australia, bottled at just 7.5% alcohol. It is the kind of wine that comes from grapes picked early, when the berries are still full of juice and perfume rather than sugar weight.
- Moscato, the grape behind the world's most aromatic sweet wines.
- South Eastern Australia, a warm, reliable grape-growing belt.
- 2021 vintage, 750ml.
- 7.5% alcohol, light bodied, low tannin, medium acidity.
- Sweet, with a soft frizzante bubble.
How it is made
Moscato is picked early and fermented cool, then stopped before all the sugar turns to alcohol. That is what leaves the wine sweet and low in strength, and what keeps a little carbon dioxide dissolved in the bottle. The grape itself carries most of the aroma, so the winemaking is mostly about not getting in its way.
How it tastes
Peach and apricot up front, then honey and a clear floral note, rose more than anything else. Lychee sits under it. The bubbles are soft rather than sharp, and the medium acidity keeps the sweetness from turning heavy on the finish.
Where it comes from
South Eastern Australia is a broad appellation covering warm inland vineyards across several states, and it is where most of the country's generous, fruit-forward white wine is grown. Moscato has been made in this style for centuries, most famously in Piedmont as Moscato d'Asti, where the same early-pick, low-alcohol approach applies.
Good to know
Moscato is one of the oldest cultivated grape families in the world, and the aroma that defines it comes from the grape skin itself, not from oak or yeast. That is why the perfume survives even at low alcohol, where heavier wines would taste thin.
