Muscat d'Alsace (dry)

Muscat d'Alsace is the rare, bone-dry face of the noble Muscat grape: a pale, light-bodied white from the cool north-east corner of France that keeps Muscat's flamboyant perfume of fresh green grapes and orange blossom but ferments it out completely, so the exuberant, almost sweet-smelling nose gives way to a crisp, dry, grapey palate. It is one of Alsace's four "noble" grapes and the classic French answer to that hardest of pairings, fresh asparagus.