Good Taste: Muscat

Brown Bros Zibibbo, $17.99. Photo / Supplied

Brown muscat and men called Keith share something in common - they don't sound very sexy. Nevertheless, I got hot under the collar about some new brown muscat plantings a few weeks ago. Why? Well, apart from being slightly off my hinges, these new vines are an important part of Marlborough's history.

In the 1870s Scotsman David Herd planted this variety at Auntsfield, creating Marlborough's first vineyard.

The next time you are at Blenheim airport look out for a statue of Herd, which commemorates his contribution to the New Zealand wine scene.

Sadly, the vines were ripped out after Herd's death to make way for other crops in the early 1930s, and the present-day owner, the Cowley family, bought Auntsfield without a single vine on the property.

Today, there are 56ha of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and pinot noir.

After years of research, the Cowleys set out to replicate Herd's original vineyard. They found a vine bank and sourced cuttings. These cuttings were riddled with viruses and it's taken four years to get the vines free of them. They have finally been able to plant out the half acre block on the original vineyard site using totara posts, which were used on the original vineyard.

Herd made a sweet fortified wine using his brown muscat, as Australian producers do in current-day Victoria.

The Cowleys have not yet figured out what they will make with the grapes when the first harvest is ready in 2013/14 but it'll certainly be a taste of history.

Although Auntsfield concentrates on brown muscat, there are at least four different types of muscat grape making wildly different styles from moscato d'Asti - a sweet, low-alcohol fizz from Italy - to the dark-brown liqueur muscats of Rutherglen. It's an underrated grape and there's sure to be a style of muscat for you.

Brown Bros Zibibbo ($17.99, from supermarkets)
A heady nose of musk, oranges and grapes. It's fun, fresh and fruity. I can see my nana liking this and it wouldn't get her tipsy at 6.5 per cent.

Willy Gisselbrecht Muscat Tradition 2008 Alsace ($32.50, Glengarry)
With a little bottle age, this dry muscat has lost some of its youthful freshness and is more about dried apricots and vanilla cream. A lovely texture and a great food wine.

Rivetto Moscato d'Asti 2009 ($33, Planet Wine, Bacchus Cellars)
With the same alcohol as a beer, this is a great quaffer. It is sweet and very moreish with appetising orange, lemon sherbet, floral notes and grapes aromas. Great as an aperitif or with cake.