Orange Muscat

O is another of those challenging letters. Only two weeks ago (Week M (2014)), we explored a Muscat and so I wasn't sure that Orange Muscat would be sufficiently distinct. However, having done my research and having also failed to find any of the other few candidates I decided to give it a go. There are no rules about this game, other than my rules, and nobody reading any of this stuff, other than me, so If I am happy so is all my readership.

I had been to an event to celebrate the launch of a book written by my very learned brother-in-law-in-law, (he is actually The One's brother-in-law, or my sister-in-law's husband and, unlike cousins, I'm not too certain of the protocol governing these titles) about how babies are nice, but grown-ups aren't and why the babies are not to blame, when I passed a large Waitrose store at the start of my journey home, therefore:

Week O (2014) is Brown Brothers Orange Muscat and Flora, 2012. Waitrose £7.49 for 37.5cl.

Muscat is a large family of varieties and Orange is a little known and grown member, mostly found in limited parts of the Australian state of Victoria,but having started its life on South East France.

In this wine it is blended with another variety, Flora, which is not a Muscat but a crossing of Semillon and Gewurztraminer developed in 1958 at the Californian Agricultural Department Station. Orange Muscat is 80% of the blend with Flora making up the remaining 20%.

This is a dessert wine, the sweetness being a consequence of the fermentation having been stopped before all the sugar has been converted to alcohol and so the wine is only 10% abv. The Orange Muscat grapes were harvested late in the season (Late Harvest, hurrah!) so the sugar levels would have reached their peak and the flavours fully developed. The Flora grapes contribute fragrance and acidty.

In the glass, the wine is a rich lemon yellow colour and smells of orange blossom and citrus fruits, such as grapefruit and lime.

On the palate it is, unsurprisingly, sweet with intense and concentrated flavours to match the nose with added honey and spice. It is a rich, mouth-filling and almost oily in texture. The finish is lingering and the sweetness persists as remnants of the slightly syrupy wine seem to cling to the corners of the mouth.

A very enjoyable, light in alcohol pudding wine that could be enjoyed as any other of its type, but Brown Brothers website makes a very intriguing suggestion: make a dessert of apricots marinated in Orange Muscat and Flora. Now, there's a thought.