Moscato di Scanzo

A rare, dark-skinned Muscat — one of the very few red-berried members of the Moscato family — cultivated almost exclusively in the hills around Scanzorosciate near Bergamo, where it's the sole autochthonous grape variety of the whole province. Documented in the area since at least the mid-14th century, and thought to have arrived with the Romans after they displaced the Gauls from the area around 50 BC. Medium blue-black berries with a heavy waxy bloom grow in medium, elongated, pyramidal-conical, often-winged and rather loose clusters on medium-sized five-lobed leaves; the variety thrives on well-exposed, dry hillside vineyards. After a careful appassimento (drying) process, it yields a ruby-garnet, sweet passito red with a complex bouquet of dried rose petal, acacia honey, sage, cinnamon, and licorice.

The single grape (100%) behind Scanzo o Moscato di Scanzo DOCG — Italy's smallest DOCG by area, grown on a partial slice of the single comune of Scanzorosciate — and named directly (as "Moscato di Scanzo e/o Moscato") for the 100% varietal Moscato passito typology of the neighboring Valcalepio DOC, which draws on the same grape across a wider zone than the DOCG's own narrow Scanzorosciate-only core. Also the dedicated base of Bergamasca IGT's "Bergamasca Moscato rosso" typology, cultivated more broadly across the whole IGT zone rather than confined to Scanzorosciate.