The Canyon Oaks Moscato ($5.99) is made from the Muscat grape grown in vineyards located in several California grape growing AVA’s. The Muscat grape is grown all over the world and is used for table grapes, raisins and wine, there are a huge variety of Muscat grapes grown and it is thought that this might be one of the oldest, if not the oldest grape varietals. The Canyon Oaks Moscato is made by ASV Wines, who are mainly a custom and private label producer (they have produced wines for Trader Joe’s), they own 2 wineries and several vineyards. The sale of inexpensive Moscato wines has more than tripled since 2008, Moscato wines tend to be on the sweet side with relatively low alcohol content, the Canyon Oaks is 11%.
The color is a clear, shiny golden wheat yellow. The nose is a little sugary, with apricot, melon and peach dominating. This is a light bodied wine, but with a full, slightly oily mouthfeel. The flavors are not shy with this Moscato, apricot, melon, tangerine, Fuji apple along with heavy syrup from a can of peaches. The mid palate brings a wallop of tart flavors to balance all the sweet stuff upfront, orange zest, lemon peal and lime. This is a sweet wine, but it is more fruit nectar sweet, than sugar sweet. There is a fairly firm amount of acidity that tries valiantly to counterbalance the sweetness. The finish is light but does linger.
The Canyon Oaks Moscato is a full flavored, tasty, very sweet wine. This is intended to be an after dinner wine, but the folks who normally indulge in an aperitif after their meal, probably are not drinking 6 buck wine. I am not usually a fan of sweet wines, but I did enjoy the flavor of the Canyon Oaks, it is just that the sweetness comes a little to close to Bartles and James territory for me. But, many moons ago, I can recall thinking that Bartles and James coolers were just fine, so who am I to criticize someone else’s palate, when I have been there myself.
