WTN: '02 Covey Run Morio Muskat

Morio Muskat is unusual in several respects. For one thing, it is a Sylvaner x Pinot Blanc hybrid created by Peter Morio that has no genetic connection with the Muscat grape. The “Muskat” in the name derives from its decidedly grapey taste which, as Jancis Robinson notes, is belied by the subdued aromas of both its parents. JR also says that Morio Muskat is “endowed with sickly grapiness”.

I can imagine the term “sickly grapiness” being applied to Labruscas as well, and it might be why I’ve always enjoyed this wine. For I happen to like dry Delaware, Dutchess, Diamond, and Catawba – foxy Labruscas all – and Muscat Morio is much like them in spite of it being a pure bred Vinifera. It is interesting how disparate parentages can sometimes result in wines that taste much the same.

What sets Morio Muskat apart is a spiciness that is much like a Gewurztraminer or a Traminette. For $8 it’s a real bargain.

Hi Dan!!

Thanks for the post. I have tried the Morio Muscat made at Stonechurch in Niagara-On-The-Lake and, naturally, loved the big floral muscatty aromas, which also veered into grapefruit-rind/rosewater territory. I would have bought much more of the wine had it been drier - I think they made it with 3 g/l r.s. which is too sweet for my palate.

Naturally, you are correct in comparing the floral viniferas to the rather separate labrusca genre. I've found this to be an apt comparison for years now, and it's one that is repeatedly confirmed each time I try a fine dry Catawba, Diamond or Dutchess (hey, I know someone who makes all these and more at Salt City Cellars )

Good to hear from you Dan. How are your wines coming along? I have put my Cayuga through the isinglass treatment and am waiting for another week or two before I bottle it.

Cheers.

Hi Paul,
I rank the Covey Run Morio Muscat right up there among great finds. I don't know the RS, will check next time, but it doesn't taste sweet. One of our local stores bought a big supply a few years ago and featured it. One taste told me that the buyer knew what he was doing and I've been a loyal customer ever since.

My '06 is doing pretty well. The Steuben and Catawba cleared quickly and both have a brilliant look. Most of the rest is still at various stages of cloudiness. I try to let them clear up naturally and do a lot of racking. My inspiration is Tom Mitchell at FallBright who says let the proteins fall until the wine is bright!

Dan

Dan:

I've always been a fair fan of the Morio-Muskat, dating back to when I was selling the stuff at the distributor level. It's an interesting grape for those pungent 'muscatty' characters---sort of a low key, non-lychee gewurz.

Funny, though, I've never associated M-M with v. labrusca in any way. I'd say it's way too light in acidity to keep anyone sufficiently interested in the wine beyond a casual point. Just doesn't have enough structure to it, I think, to make it profound or complex; it's a soft, luscious, easy drinking light white that has some good floral/perfumy qualities and handles its sugars fairly well. Summetime quaffing kinda stuff---which to me is not a denigration, just a description of what the grape is.

But it's never signalled labrusca.

Hoke,
Funny, but as soon as I saw "sickly grapiness" in Jancis Robinson's description of Morio Muskat the Labrusca bell went off in my head. Her description is pejorative of course, but in an earlier incarnation of the forum I posted a couple of messages to the effect that a characteristic of Labrusca, in contrast to Vinifera, is that you got a taste of the grape. It is a crude distinction, but nonetheless often true. The dry Delawares, Diamonds, and Steubens here in the Northeast (made mostly by home winemakers) often elicit the comment that they taste like the grape. I don't think I've ever heard that said about a Riesling or Chardonnay. Again, the distinction is not perfect, but it works often enough that it wouldn't surprise me if I categorized Covey Run Morio Muskat as a Labrusca in a blind tasting.

Dan

Dan,

We all react individually to flavors, tastes and textures, so mileage varies widely, obviously. It's one of the things that makes wine so great: much of it is associative.

For me, the grape variety where the wine is so closely related to the grape, in the terms of showing the same grapy flavors in the wine that you get from the raw grape, is.....Viognier.

I was working in a friend's vineyard at harvest, where they had one...count it, one...vine of Viognier, and when I picked the grape and tasted it, my mind flashed instantly on Viognier. And you've worked in grapes long enough to know that it's not all that usual, right?

Funny how the mind and the taste buds work, eh.

Germany also has its share of good Morio Muscats.


Prost!
Bill

Hoke wrote:

I was working in a friend's vineyard at harvest, where they had one...count it, one...vine of Viognier, and when I picked the grape and tasted it, my mind flashed instantly on Viognier. And you've worked in grapes long enough to know that it's not all that usual, right?

My experience with vinifera grapes is limited. I've never tasted a Viognier but now would like to. Are there other viniferas in which the wine tastes like the grape?

Dan

Are there other viniferas in which the wine tastes like the grape?

Just to add my 2¢, I think that the Muscat varieties and Gewürztraminer can be counted among the viniferas whose wines taste like the grape. I am sure there must be more, but obscure viniferas are just about as hard to learn about as obscure hybrids, so gaining this knowledge is a painstaking process.

Are there other viniferas in which the wine tastes like the grape?

Although not an answer to your question, in making white wines, whether I press the juice myself or buy fresh pressed juice, I always taste the juice prior to adding yeast. As fresh juice, Chardonnay and Riesling are difficult to distinguish. Vidal and Cayuga are quite distinct. In fact, I believe Cayuga makes the best tasting fresh white juice of them all - better than the labruscas.

Howie, when I was picking Cayugas for my '06 dry white, I ate quite a few of them too just to get a feel for their paradigm (it was my first time ever trying Cayugas straight off the vine). The vines have a bit of labrusca parentage showing through - especially in the leaves and the trunks. Most notable to me was the white fuzz on the undersides of the leaves, which is a common trait of the labruscas. In any case, the grapes themselves had no foxiness to them - they were actually quite tannic, and this is not surprising since Cayuga has some Zinfandel parentage in it. All in all, though, the tannin did not get expressed in the wine, which has turned out peachy and bright, bone-dry with very moderate acidity. I should be bottling it within a week or so.

Paul, when I get caught up I plan on blending 1 part Vignoles into 2-4 parts of my Cayuga. Haven't made this blend in over 12 years, but I remember I like it, and we tasted a similar blend with Traminette also at NiagaraCOOL last summer.

I plan on blending 1 part Vignoles into 2-4 parts of my Cayuga

Howie,
It was your experience blending these two that got me into making Vignoles again. The blend didn't work out particularly well last year, but will try it again. On the other hand, the Vignoles by itself won an award. Am open to any and all other suggestions you might have!

Dan

I think that white blends can definitely be very interesting and are worth pursuing, especially for us home winemakers when we have multiple single-varietal batches going.

One of the most interesting regional whites that I remember so very fondly was the inaugural Halton White made at Scotch Block Country Winery, located completely outside the Niagara region (it's north of Milton, in Halton Hills). The vintage was 2002 and the wine was a blend of Vidal, Seyval, Cayuga and Auxerrois (the sole vinifera component). I loved the texture and the very slight hint of labrusca that came through from the very ripe Cayuga that year. I have been begging them to repeat that blend ever since!

Paul,
Thanks for reminding me that Cayuga has Zin in its parentage. I'd forgotten that Schuyler is Zin x Ontario. How did those smart guys at Geneva, NY even think of blending Zin with Ontario? One of them must have had some California in his parentage.

Dan