Moscatel Sherry

The Consejo Regulador's viticulture page says the Moscatel variety originated in Africa, is now grown in many wine regions around the world, and was already referred to by Columela, writing in early Christian times. The same page lists other names for the grape, among them Moscatel de Alejandría, Moscatel gordo and Moscatel de España, and notes that Moscatel wine from the region generally goes under the name 'de Chipiona'. Winegrowing in the region is far older than the style: the Consejo's history page cites the Greek geographer Strabo, writing in the 1st century BC, for the Phoenicians bringing the first vines to the Jerez region in 1100 BC. Phylloxera arrived in the Sherry region in 1894, and when the first Spanish Wine Law was published in 1933 it referred to the Denomination of Origin Jerez and its Consejo Regulador, which the Consejo describes as the first to be legally constituted in Spain.

• The Consejo Regulador says the Moscatel variety originated in Africa and was mentioned by Columela in early Christian times
• The Consejo cites Strabo (1st century BC) for Phoenician vines reaching the Jerez region in 1100 BC
• Phylloxera arrived in the Sherry region in 1894, per the Consejo Regulador
• The 1933 Spanish Wine Law referred to the DO Jerez and its Consejo Regulador, the first legally constituted in Spain, per the Consejo

The Consejo Regulador's region page names ten towns with vineyards in the Denomination of Origin: Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Chiclana de la Frontera, Chipiona, Puerto Real, Rota, Trebujena, San José del Valle and Lebrija, the last in the province of Seville. On 1 August 2025 the Consejo's registers held 6,866.74 hectares of vineyard, 77.25 hectares of them in Chipiona (Consejo Regulador annual report, 2025). The region's defining soil is albariza, a limestone soil of chalk and clay; the Consejo also lists barros (clays) and arenas (sands), and says sands are more commonly found in coastal areas. Moscatel belongs to that coast. The Consejo's Moscatel page says the vineyards are close to the beach in sandy soils with considerable maritime influence, and its viticulture page says the variety is best suited to vineyards close to the sea. The 2025 annual report calls Moscatel very common in coastal zones with sandy soils, especially in Chipiona, which the region page describes as home to one of the region's most symbolic grape varieties, Moscatel. The same report gives the climate as more than 300 days of sun a year on average, average rainfall above 600 litres per square metre a year, and two prevailing winds, the warm levante and the mild, humid poniente.

• Ten towns have vineyards in the DO; Lebrija lies in the province of Seville, per the Consejo Regulador
• 6,866.74 ha of registered vineyard on 1 August 2025, 77.25 ha of it in Chipiona (Consejo Regulador annual report, 2025)
• Moscatel vineyards sit close to the beach in sandy soils with considerable maritime influence, per the Consejo Regulador
• More than 300 days of sun a year and over 600 litres of rain per square metre on average (Consejo Regulador annual report, 2025)

The pliego defines the vinos dulces naturales as wines obtained by fortifying overripe or raisined grape musts with alcohol, followed by oxidative ageing of at least two years. Moscatel is the type made from at least 85% musts of Moscatel grapes, with or without raisining, and the pliego's list of authorised varieties names Moscatel de Alejandría. The Consejo Regulador's vinification page says Moscatel wines are made exclusively from Moscatel de Alejandría grapes harvested when very ripe. The grapes can also be sunned. The pliego describes asoleo as exposing the bunches to the sun to partially dehydrate the berries and concentrate their sugars and acids. According to the Consejo, sunning Moscatel is done in much the same way as for Pedro Ximénez, but because Moscatel de Alejandría grapes are bigger, sunning dries them out less, and because most Moscatel vines are in sandy soil near the sea, the sunning often takes place on paseras of sand. In sweet vinification, the musts or fermenting musts are fortified with alcohol to prevent or stop fermentation (pliego), using alcohol of wine origin; the Consejo's Moscatel page says fermentation is stopped with the addition of wine alcohol. Ageing takes place in botas, the local name for oak casks of no more than 1,000 litres (pliego). The Consejo says Moscatel ageing is carried out exclusively with air contact, bringing progressive aromatic concentration and increasing complexity without losing the freshness and fruity character of the grape.

• Vinos dulces naturales: fortified overripe or raisined musts plus at least two years of oxidative ageing (pliego, 2026)
• Moscatel type: at least 85% Moscatel musts, with or without raisining (pliego, 2026)
• Asoleo partially dehydrates the berries and concentrates sugars and acids (pliego); Moscatel's bigger berries dry out less than Pedro Ximénez in the sun (Consejo Regulador)
• Fortification with alcohol of wine origin prevents or stops fermentation (pliego, 2026)
• 'de Pasas' may complete the type name for wines from raisined grapes with more than 212 g/L of sugar (pliego, 2026)

The pliego's analytical table (2026) sets Moscatel at 15 to 22% vol alcohol and 160 g/L or more of sugar, expressed as glucose and fructose. The Consejo Regulador's Moscatel page gives the same alcohol range, sugar of more than 160 g per litre, total acidity of 3 to 5 g per litre (tartaric) and volatile acidity below 0.8 g per litre (acetic). The pliego describes Moscatel as ranging in colour from pale gold to intense mahogany, with white flower and/or citrus aromas and a sweet but balanced palate. The Consejo's tasting notes run from chestnut to intense mahogany, with jasmine, orange blossom and honeysuckle, citrus notes of lime and grapefruit, a restrainedly sweet palate and a slightly dry, bitter finish. The Consejo recommends serving Moscatel slightly chilled, between 12 and 14 °C, in a white wine glass, and says its structure allows an opened bottle to be kept for a few months. For the 2025 harvest, the Consejo's annual report records 690 botas of qualified Moscatel must out of 47,694 in total, a bota being 500 litres.

• 15 to 22% vol alcohol; 160 g/L or more of sugar (pliego, 2026)
• Total acidity 3 to 5 g/L (tartaric); volatile acidity below 0.8 g/L (acetic), per the Consejo Regulador
• Colour from pale gold to intense mahogany, white flower and/or citrus aromas (pliego, 2026)
• Serve slightly chilled at 12 to 14 °C, per the Consejo Regulador

Lustau's own shop page describes its Moscatel Emilín as 100% Moscatel from Lustau's vineyard Las Cruces in Chipiona, aged for 8 years in Jerez de la Frontera, at 17% alcohol. Valdespino's Toneles, sold on the Grupo Estévez shop, is listed there as 100% Moscatel de Alejandría with oxidative ageing, an age of around 100 years, 430 g/L of residual sugar and a very limited annual bottling of 250 half bottles.

• Lustau Moscatel Emilín: 100% Moscatel from Las Cruces, Chipiona, aged 8 years in Jerez de la Frontera, per Lustau
• Valdespino Toneles: 100% Moscatel de Alejandría, oxidative ageing, around 100 years of age, per the Grupo Estévez shop page

Primary sources (Consejo Regulador Jerez-Xérès-Sherry and its pliego de condiciones, and producers' own sites): https://www.sherry.wine/documents/597/21052026_Pliego_Jerez_1wBQg8y.pdf, https://www.sherry.wine/sherry-wine/naturally-sweet-sherry-wine/moscatel, https://www.sherry.wine/sherry-wine/naturally-sweet-sherry-wine, https://www.sherry.wine/sherry-wine/production/vinification, https://www.sherry.wine/sherry-wine/production/viticulture, https://www.sherry.wine/sherry-region/history-of-sherry, https://www.sherry.wine/sherry-region/sherry-wine-region, https://www.sherry.wine/documents/593/Memoria_2025_compressed_1.pdf, https://lustau.es/en/shop/sherry-wines/solera-familiar-en/lustau-moscatel-emilin/, https://www.grupoestevez.com/tienda/toneles/. Last verified 2026-09-28