Puglia's Moscato di Trani

I have been flipping between the Muscat wines of Greece, Italy, and Turkey and between the Petits Grains and Alexandria branches of the Muscat family and my hope was to close out the Greek phase of the review by reporting on the Muscats of Rhodes, Patras, and Rio Patras. But, the best laid plans ...

In studying the PDO Muscat of Rhodes, I discovered that the wine can contain both Muscat of Rhodes and Muscat di Trani. That was a blow because my approach does not allow passing mentions so I would have to contextualize Muscat di Trani before listing it as a component of PDO Muscat of Rhodes. Herein the contextualization of Muscat di Trani.

Moscato di Trani, is considered one of the oldest wines in Puglia, with a history stretching back to 1000 AD when the Venetians began to offer it in trade; even signing an agreement called the Trani Customs House. The wine eventually became so popular that, in the 14th century, the Count of Trani placed a limit on the export of quality wine from the ports of the Kingdom of Naples.

In the 16th Century, Moscato di Trani was described by the artist Leandro Alberti as "a product so excellent as to be very delicate in taste."

Today Moscato di Trani is grown primarily in Puglia's Bari province, in vineyards close to the Adriatic Sea. The climate is Mediterranean while the soils are limestone and clay. 

Moscato di Trani DOC (Map ©Federdoc)

The region gained its DOC status in 1974 and, under that regime, the following wines are allowed:

• Dolce Naturale: > 85% Moscato Reale di Trani; < 15% other aromatic white grapes; 10% abv; RS > 3.5%; Aging > 6 months
• Liquoroso: > 85% Moscato Reale di Trani; < 15% other aromatic white grapes; 16% abv; RS > 3.5%; Aging > 5 months.

According to Domenico Valenti of the Pandala Agricultural Company, the grapes for Moscato di Trani are dried directly on the plant without cutting the shoots or placing the bunches on racks. During the growth phase the grapes are subjected to green pruning.

Azienda agricola Francesco di Filippo

… continues the tradition by working its own Moscato Reale grapes through a refinement process based on naturalness, simplicity and professionalism, all essential elements to make its wines * Ecstasy * Unique and Unmistakable. The grapes are ripe for harvest in the first ten days of August, but by choice they are harvested late at the end of October, when the bunches have dried naturally on the vine until they reach an ideal concentration of intense and persistent aromas and scents. We wait for Mother Nature to take her slow and natural course, totally different from artificial drying in greenhouses more commonly called fruit rooms with artificial hot air to accelerate ripening or bunches spread out on racks in the sun.  

During the manual harvest, only the healthy bunches are chosen, while the bunches with mold (botrytis cinerea) are not collected, so as not to compromise the extraordinary organoleptic qualities of the wine's nectar, in order to obtain an elegant and entrancing wine.  

Another important and fundamental element is the Time factor (our ally) as the wine is left to rest and mature only and exclusively in stainless steel silos for several years so that it can refine and release its personality made of intense aromas and aromas, persistent and elegant deriving from the native vine and above all from its territory of origin (Trani).

Ilaria Introzzi, writing in marieclaire.it, describes the aromas and flavors of Muscato di Trani thusly:

First of all, the muscat grape, which is followed closely by honeyed and buttery notes, with a strong presence of hints of yellow fruit jam (apricot, peach, etc...) as well as the aromas of yellow and strongly odorous flowers such as acacia, linden, broom, to move on to dried flowers, withered rose in particular, until it then widens to pleasant hints of tropical fruit, from pineapple to mango, papaya, until it opens to elegant and clean citrus saline notes, to spicy aromas of vanilla, star anise, white chocolate, with a light and pleasant almond finish.

Rather breathless but captures the kaleidoscope of aromas and flavors inherent in the wine.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme