Setúbal

Moscatel de Setúbal is Portugal's celebrated fortified Muscat — a sweet, amber-to-orange dessert wine from the sandy, sun-warmed Península de Setúbal just south of Lisbon, between the Tagus and Sado estuaries. It is built on Muscat of Alexandria, known locally as Moscatel de Setúbal, with a little of the rare pink-skinned Moscatel Roxo in prized bottlings. Like Port, it is made by fortification: neutral grape spirit (aguardente) is added to arrest the ferment, killing the yeast while a generous load of natural grape sugar remains and lifting the wine to roughly 17 to 20 percent alcohol. Its signature step is a long maceration on the aromatic muscat skins after fortification, steeping out an intense marmalade-and-orange-blossom perfume. Aged oxidatively in old wood, it turns from bright amber to deep mahogany, tasting of orange peel, dried apricot, raisin and honey and, with decades in cask, of walnut, caramel and dried fig. Rich yet lifted by fresh acidity, it is a benchmark dessert wine and the flagship of the Setúbal DOC.