Moscato

We have been making Moscato and Muscat here at Holm Oak since 2007. The fruit comes from Tim’s parent’s vineyard which is located in Nyah, just outside of Swan Hill in northern Victoria. From 2007 – 2010 we bought the fruit down to the winery as hand picked fruit. The fruit was packaged inside plastic liners in cardboard bins and transported on refrigerated transport across the Bass Straight on the Spirit of Tasmania to our winery. This process took about 48 hours. In 2011 we decided to have the fruit pressed in Victoria and then had the juice transported down in a tanker. This is because the volume of Moscato that we are producing has increased substantially and this was the most effective way to ensure we maintained the quality of the wine.

We have also bought down handpicked fruit to make Muscat. This is picked about 6 weeks later than the Moscato when the fruit is very ripe – pretty much like raisins.

There are many Muscat varieties that Moscato and Muscat can be made from, but the fruit we use is the variety Muscat a Petit Grain Rouge, this variety is known as the “King of Muscats” as it has the most flavour intensity of all the Muscats. The Duffy family have been specialising in Muscat varieties for many years and were one of the first Moscato producers in Australia with the first release of their Devils Elbow Moscato released in 2002.

The two wines are named after our vineyard pets, Pinot d’Pig and Bella, our chocolate Labrador. Both are very popular at our cellar door and have plenty of personality. When Pinot was younger and smaller he used to roam freely around our cellar door and vineyard. However, the two of them liked to go on little adventures to neighbouring properties and create havoc, so now Pinot has his only special paddock near cellar door where he received lots of visitors and gets fed lots of apples.

Like all pigs. Pinot is quite sociable and has embraced social media. You can keep up with what Pinot has been up to by following him on twitter @pinotdpig