Karly Wines

The Orange Muscat grape comes to us from France. If you have ever tasted Beaume de Venise (I know, it’s not very likely), then you have tasted Orange Muscat. Several varieties of Muscat have been grown in Amador County for generations, thanks again to the Italian families who came here in the nineteenth century. Also of note, is the German practice of leaving grapes on the vine until they freeze. This binds up the water in the grapes, giving the vintner extremely high viscosity juice when pressed. This technique has recently been adopted in Canada and the Northeast, much to the delight of dessert wine aficionados.

We have been growing Orange Muscat on the estate since the eighties. Why Dad started making it in an eiswein style is a mystery even to Buck. Since the French grape – German style combination obviously works, he tries not to think about it too much. The reasons why we continue this procedure are simple; it makes good wine and it’s really fun. We pick the grapes when the green grapes have consistent brown specks. This is determined scientifically: when large squadrons of magpies are flying to the southeastern sector of the property, we pick. Since we could wait until the next millennium and never have our Muscat freeze, we store them at a commercial freezer until November, load them into the press whole and frozen, and press. We start the fermentation immediately, and stop it in March (it’s thick stuff). Fine, filter & bottle.

The result is liquid dessert. Our Orange Muscat is viscous and juicy. The bouquet is positively explosive with vineyard generated orange blossoms. The flavors are a riot of peach, apricot, citrus, honey, golden raisins, and when young, pineapple. So much is accomplished by doing so little.