From Clay's Journal

July 28, 2026

The ancient and prolific family of wine grapes known as Muscat (Moscato, Muskat, Muskateller Mosshoudia,   ) has many charms, and among them is the ability to shine as both a dry wine and a sweet one.  Most familiarly, it is the go-to grape for some of the world’s most iconic dessert wines, such as Moscato d’Asti, Muscat Frontignan, Muskateller, Muscat Beaumes de Venise and so on..

The dry version is, in contrast, rather rare. Fredericka and I first encountered it when we spent a week hiking the Route du Vin in that north-east province of France known as Alsace. This was in the summer of 1983, a few years after we left our academic careers behind and moved to California to join the wine business. It was a real landmark experience and a turning point for us, as upon our return we founded Claiborne & Churchill, a winery specializing in “Alsatian Style” wines.

Although our first crush in 1983 focused on the most popular of the four “noble” (edel) wines of Alsace (Dry Gewurztraminer and Dry Riesling), four years later we made our first Dry Muscat. I believe we made it from Muscat Canelli, a popular if unexciting clone readily available on the Central Coast. Since then Dry Muscat has been a special  (though occasional) part of our repertoire.

In the mid-nineties we made our first Sweet Muscat, a lovely dessert wine sold in half-bottles and outfitted with a label referencing the medieval troubadour concept of Douce Amie (“Sweet Friend”). It has remained a popular part of our wine list, particularly among customers with a “sweet tooth.”

For years our favorite clone of this grape has been “Orange Muscat”, so named because of the haunting aromas of orange blossoms found in its wines. We source it from friends who grow it in Santa Barbara County, as we did last fall, when we crushed two and a half tons to make a new vintage of Douce Amie.

As it happens, we received more fruit than we expected, and so we decided to make, in addition to 157 cases of Sweet Muscat, a little Dry Muscat. A whole 23 cases!