I Mesi Moscato Rosa

About this wine

Casa Girelli I Mesi Moscato Rosa is made from Moscato Rosa, a rare red skinned member of the Muscat family that is most closely associated with Trentino Alto Adige. The grape is known less for color and more for its distinct rose like perfume, and it often shows bright red berry fruit along with citrus peel and soft spice. In the glass, expect aromas of rose petals, wild strawberry, raspberry, and a touch of clove or cinnamon, followed by a sweet edged palate that stays lively thanks to naturally high acidity. The texture is typically smooth and lightly mouth coating, with very gentle tannin from brief skin contact, and the finish leans toward floral notes and juicy berry flavors. Moscato Rosa is generally vinified to preserve its aromatic lift, and many producers retain residual sugar by stopping fermentation early, which helps keep the wine balanced and prevents the variety from tasting bitter when made fully dry.

About the grape

Moscato Rosa is a rare pink to dark skinned member of the Muscat family that is closely tied to Trentino and Alto Adige, and many sources link its spread in the area to plant material arriving from the Adriatic and Central European world in the late nineteenth century. Modern references also describe it as a close relative, often treated as an offspring or color mutation, of Muscat Blanc a Petit Grains, which helps explain its strongly aromatic nature and why it is usually kept as a varietal wine rather than blended. In Trentino it is planted in very small surface areas because it is delicate in the vineyard, with low yields and a long ripening cycle, and it is commonly trained on pergola or vertical trellis systems to manage vigor and protect the fruit. Casa Girelli uses Moscato Rosa on its own for the I Mesi Moscato Rosa, following the local tradition of harvesting it fully ripe so the grape can carry a naturally high level of sugar and aroma into the finished rosé wine.

Quick facts

• 🛶 Moscato Rosa is so rare and finicky in the vineyard that it’s listed by Slow Food’s Ark of Taste, and it’s notorious for low yields because it can drop flowers and has very thin skins.
• 🌹 Despite the pink look in the glass, “Moscato Rosa” gets its name mainly from its rose perfume, not from the grape’s skin color, it’s often nicknamed “Muscat of the roses.”
• 🧬 The Moscato Rosa grown in the Alpine north is genetically tied to Croatia’s muskat ruza porecki and is an offspring of Muscat blanc à petit grains, so it’s basically a floral Muscat “cousin” with a Balkan backstory.
• 👑 Local lore says the grape arrived in the area in the 1800s when Prince Enrico di Campofranco brought cuttings north from Sicily, and for a long time it was a special occasion wine for a small circle of wealthy insiders because yields were so low.
• 🌍 Casa Girelli’s story is very Trentino-meets-the-world: a Verona family wine business dating to the late 1800s that set up in Trento in 1966, then grew into a major export-focused house shipping its wines to dozens of countries.

Palate profile

Producer

Casa Girelli traces its roots to a winemaking and merchant family from Verona that began building the business in the late 1800s. The modern company was established in Trento in 1966, growing from a local tradition into a national bottling and sourcing house. After the Second World War it expanded by selecting vineyards across Italy and developing export markets, with brands such as Canaletto reaching foreign markets from the early 1970s. In the late 2000s the company was merged into the La Vis cooperative group, marking a major turning point in its corporate story. Today Casa Girelli remains based in Trento, producing a broad range of Italian wines for international distribution.