Moscato di Terracina

Moscato di Terracina grows on the Lazio coast an hour south of Rome, in conditions that ought to defeat a vine: warm winds, marine breezes and salt in the soil. It has adapted remarkably well. In 2002 exactly one producer made wine from it; today six do, supported by more than a hundred growers. Few Italian revivals have moved that fast.

Its own grape The variety was long thought closely related to Moscato Bianco, though it actually resembles Moscato di Alessandria more. Genetic work indicates it is distinct from all the known Moscatos, which is a significant finding for a family where nearly everything turns out to be a relative of Moscato Bianco. Whatever its ancestry, it stands on its own.

Origins and history Moscato di Terracina has been important to the local economy for two centuries. In the 1820s its cultivation was the prime source of income for the Terracina area, and the wines were regularly exported to northern Italy and to Germany. That trade collapsed along with so much else in the twentieth century, and the variety very nearly went with it.

In the vineyard The bunches are large and pyramidal-conical, either compact or loosely packed depending on the biotype, with medium-large round yellow-green berries. It ripens early, in late August or early September. No official clones are available yet, which means growers rely on massal selection from the surviving material.

A coastal habitat The vineyards sit close to the shore in the province of Latina, exposed to salt and wind in a way few Italian vineyards are. Those are fairly extreme conditions for a vine, and the variety has adjusted to them over decades rather than being coddled through them. The salinity that results is the wine’s most distinctive quality and is not a metaphor.

Appearance and structure Moscato di Terracina gives a wine of moderate weight with the grapey directness the Muscat family is known for, held in shape by a saline, mineral finish that keeps it from becoming cloying even in the sweeter styles. The early ripening means alcohol can climb if the picking date slips, so timing matters.

Aromatic profile The classic Muscat register is all there, orange blossom, grape, white peach and a touch of musk, with the marine influence adding a savoury, saline edge underneath. The combination of overt Muscat perfume and genuine salinity is unusual and is what separates this from the many sweeter Moscatos made inland.

In the cellar The range of styles is the point. The wine is made secco, amabile and passito, and as a sparkling wine which must be 100 per cent varietal. The dry version is the most interesting and the least expected, since Muscat grapes are so often assumed to belong in sweet wine. The passito concentrates both the perfume and the salinity.

Key expressions

• Moscato di Terracina Secco, the dry style and the most distinctive.
• The sparkling version, required to be entirely this variety.
• Amabile, the off-dry traditional style.
• Passito, air-dried and concentrated.

The question of aging The dry and sparkling wines are best within two or three years, while the aromatics are vivid; Muscat perfume is the first thing to go and nothing replaces it. The passito is another matter and will hold a decade or more, the salinity keeping the sugar in balance as the wine darkens towards apricot and honey.

At the table The dry version is excellent with the seafood of the Lazio coast, particularly anything with citrus or herbs, and the salinity makes it unusually good with raw fish. The amabile suits spiced dishes; the passito belongs with almond pastries. Serve the dry around ten degrees, the sweet a little cooler.

Why it matters Going from one producer to six and a hundred growers in twenty years is what a successful revival actually looks like, and Moscato di Terracina is among the clearest examples Italy has. It is also a genuinely distinct Moscato in a family where almost everything reduces to Moscato Bianco, and it tastes of a stretch of coast that no other Italian white represents.