FABULOUS LADIES WINE REVIEW: Gemelli Estate Moscato 2011
Where?
Afternoon tea in Mackay, North Queensland
Why?
We were in desperate need of some sunshine and warmth, so hopped on a plane to visit some dear friends in the sunny north.
What’s the deal?
Quite frankly I’m already sick to death of this cold winter weather. It’s still only June, but I’m already longing for warm days, balmy nights, and sipping on bright, sparkly drinks that make me sigh with the pure pleasure of living.
As the smell of burning nylon wafted through the room from pressing too close to the bar heater again, two wonderfully tantalising events occurred almost simultaneously. We decided to hop on a plane and visit my dear friends in Mackay, and a bottle of Gemelli Estate Moscato 2011 turned up in the post.
To me Moscato is everything I adore about summer. It’s sweet, zippy, completely frivolous and best enjoyed with hardly any clothes on. (Minds out of the gutter please, I’m talking swim wear!)
Moscato is a sweet, sparkling wine made from Muscat grapes and is naturally low in alcohol. While I’m not a girl who usually likes sweet wines at all, when it comes to a Moscato I’m happy to return to my best-forgotten university days of sugar dependence.
While for some, summer is a dreaded time of clammy skin, unbearable humidity and the droning sound of mosquitos, for me it means lots of Moscato. Moscato is everything that’s good about summer drinking.
And the Gemelli Estate Moscato is a gorgeous example of just how lovely a good Moscato can be.
Gemelli Estate is one of the Hunter Valley’s newest cellar doors, and their Moscato is made from grapes grown on their own vineyard. Gemelli means “twins” in Italian, and was named after the owners Rebecca and Michael’s twin boys. If you can have young twins under-foot and still be making Moscato this good then there’s definitely a solid future ahead for Gemelli Estate.
We took the bottle with us to Mackay and opened it over afternoon tea while the sun was shining down and the tropical air wrapped warmly around our shoulders.
The gorgeous pink hue and generous musk flavour is complemented by rose water and strawberries, but what’s really delightful is that the fresh, grape flavour really shines through. It’s not overly sweet, and offers enough zing to make it deeply refreshing.
The bubble is light and fine, and adds to the appeal.
While it’s a little on the pricey side for a cheerful Moscato ($22 a bottle), it is a boutique offering from a small, and carefully selected harvest and made by people who are passionate about their craft. So it’s worth paying a little more.
Drink with?
We served it in delicate champagne flutes and sipped it with iced cup-cakes and little sandwiches. It would also be wonderful with a fruit based dessert at the end of a meal.
Drink when?
You want to kiss goodbye to winter and feel a smidge of summer right now. With or without a plane trip north.
Mood
Party, sociable, hot and bothered (or just desperate to pretend you are).
Price: $22 a bottle
Available only from www.GemelliEstate.com.au
To win yourself a bottle of Gemelli Estate 2011 Moscato, simply leave a comment below telling us your favourite way to fight off the winter blues. Enter now! Winner announced Tuesday 26th June 2012.
THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR WONDERFUL ENTRIES!!
Chocolate, hot, warm, sticky pudding carmel sauce. Warms the soul, warm the heart
Life is too short to suffer from winter blues or to drink bad wine. The perfect solution on a winter night is to open a bottle of fabulous red, crisp white, beautiful sweet fortified or comforting bubbly, put your feet up and enjoy.
French onion soup. An enormous baguette. A bottle of Burgundy. And a bowl for one. Bliss.
Extra couple of logs on the fire to make the place toasty and get into nice light clothes and and relax with a red wine
I beat the winter blues by meeting my fabulous ladies at our favourite wine bar, cracking a bottle (or two) of our favourite GSM from Clare Valley …. and chatting the cold, winter nights away!
A hearty red wine beef casserole bubbling away in the slow cooker, a bottle of sauv blanc for me, a sixer of beers for the fiancé and a cozy movie night… definitely the best way to beat the winter blues! Just love it!
I love to snuggle up with the heater going, wearing comfy trackies, a nanna blanket over my lap and perhaps a glass of merlot or cabernet and read a good book!
Regina Spektor's candid, anti-folk perspective of the world + bottle of bubbles + mohair rug + lots and lots of candlelight!
I like to snuggle up with a hot water bottle and a glass or two of mulled wine to warm myself up on the inside and the outside…
With slippers on my FEET…
Heat radiating from the POT BELLY…..
Snuggled up to HUBBY…..
Having A glass or Two of BRANDY…..
or…… MAYBE……. even……. THREE…….
Winter blues be gone, Squashed by queenslanders tasting time, Moscato o'clock my clock chimes, Home cooked campoven meal is ready to dine.
Bless you Queensland!
Electric blanket- check. Mindless novel- check. Warm, winter doona- check. Husband massaging your feet – che.. well, we can't always have it all!
Easy, crank up the fire, warm enough that I dont need layers! Put on some summer tunes and drink bubbles…winter? What winter?
I love your style ladies! But I prefer to take advantage of winter while I can. Grab a blanket, a glass of merlot and soak up the crisp evenings. Complimented by hearty food.
A roaring fire, a glass of red, an amazing book and the man of my dreams…
If you can't beat it then join it I say – go skiing. A perfectly still, sunny, blue skied day at the top of Blue Cow puts a smile on my face everytime.
xx
I envy you 🙂
By drinking your moscato it's divine
Shiraz, an open fire, hand made pasta & a fluffy bath robe.
Cake. Lots of cake. Preferably chocolate. Accompanied by lashings of port.
Mulled wine. Oh yes. That beats any blues!
Nothing like celebrating xmas in July with a hot roast and some mulled wine… winter blues 0, me 1 🙂