Recently I tried the new Moscato from Barefoot Wine. It retails for about $6.99. Moscato stands for “musky”; the grapes come from the Muscat family of grapes. They are used to make table wines, sweeter sparkling wines, or dessert wines. Barefoot describes theirs as “semi-sweet.”

Oh no… it’s way sweeter than that.

We decided to try it with some chicken. Or rather, “chickenfish”. We used Old Bay seasoning, a lemon/herb type of seasoning, on some chicken thighs. It kind of made the chicken taste a little bit like fish somehow. Then taking a gulp of this super-sweet wine did not help matters.

Maybe next time I won’t experiment with a new wine, while at the same time, experiment with my food. I could barely finish it with the dinner. I did finish it of course; I’ve been taught, as probably most people have, to never waste alcohol.

Next, I tried it with some cheese and fruit, namely pineapple, strawberries, and goat cheese. Another good tip- check to make sure you like the cheese before you go testing it with wine. I figured it was a good mild cheese to try out. I now know I don’t like goat cheese. To be blunt, it reminded me of dirty feet. The fumes at the back of the throat were quite noxious. Dirty feet and sickly sweet wine. Delicious.

It was okay with the strawberries, but nothing too exciting. I fared best with the pineapple. It matched the orange and peach flavors of the wine, and somehow complemented the stronger tartness of the fruit. Success!

To sum up, the wine was indeed very smooth. It’s best on its own, probably as a dessert wine. It has its own distinct flavor, and doesn’t need other flavors to mix up the party.

The label suggests spicy Asian cuisine could go with it, so that’s a possibility. Maybe next time… at some point I have to finish the bottle!