By Jules Polonetsky
In the hierarchy of wine-world respectability, Moscato often sits somewhere between “guilty pleasure” and “entry-level curiosity.” To many sommeliers, it’s too sweet, too simple, too unserious. Yet there’s one Moscato that’s done what very few wines — kosher or otherwise — ever manage: become a runaway hit in markets far beyond the niche it was designed to serve. I’m talking, of course, about Bartenura Moscato, the bright blue-bottled sensation from Royal Wine Corporation.
Bartenura was originally one of a few Italian imports in Royal Wine’s portfolio: a line of wines named after the 15th-century commentator on the Mishnah, Rabbi Ovadia ben Avraham of Bertinoro, known as “The Bartenura” to scholars. The Moscato d’Asti was part of the lineup, a light, sweet, lightly sparkling wine from Piedmont, made from the Muscat grape. In Italy, Moscato is part of a long tradition — served at festive occasions, sipped as an aperitif, or paired with dessert.
For years, it was a steady seller in the kosher market, popular at Shabbat tables and weddings. But sometime in the late 2000s, something shifted. Bartenura Moscato D’Asti was catching on with an audience far beyond the kosher world. The wine took off with young, urban, style-conscious drinkers who wanted a wine that was fun, approachable and looked great in photos.
That cobalt-blue bottle was a marketing success but quite controversial. In a sea of muted wine labels, the electric hue stood out on the shelf and on the table. But the bottle didn’t meet the strict standards of the local Italian Piedmont wine region, kicking off a local bureaucratic battle that took years to resolve.
It didn’t hurt that Moscato’s sweetness made it an easy sell to people who didn’t necessarily think of themselves as wine drinkers. Royal leaned in, pushing Bartenura into markets where “kosher” wasn’t the selling point. The price point — typically under $15 — made it accessible without feeling cheap.
Then pop culture gave it rocket fuel. Hip-hop artists started mentioning Moscato in lyrics. Celebrity Instagram posts showed Bartenura at parties. Today, Royal sells more than 10 million bottles of Bartenura Moscato around the world, far dwarfing the sales of any other kosher wine.
The vast quantities of Bartenura Moscato come from a network of growers and producers in the Piedmont region of northern Italy — specifically in and around the Asti DOCG zone, the heartland of Moscato production. This is where Royal Wine Corporation contracts with one of the largest, most specialized Moscato wineries in the region — a facility built to do one thing and do it perfectly.
Drive south from Turin into the rolling hills of Asti and you’ll find it: part cathedral, part spaceship, gleaming in the sun. At harvest, it’s as busy as an airport at rush hour.
Hundreds of small growers — most farming just a few hectares each — deliver freshly picked Muscat grapes from vineyards tucked into sunlit slopes. The soils here are classic Piedmont: chalky marl and sandstone, ideal for coaxing aromatics of peach, apricot and orange blossom.
Inside, the production scale is staggering, but the philosophy is traditional. Fermentation happens in towering stainless-steel tanks, each temperature-controlled to the degree.
Grapes are picked early to preserve acidity, fermented cold to capture fruit and floral notes, then the process is stopped early to keep natural grape sugars in balance. A gentle pressurization gives Moscato its signature frizzante fizz — more a lively tingle than Champagne’s explosive bubble.
This winery’s entire identity is Moscato, and that focus shows. The process has been fine-tuned over decades so that every bottle — whether poured at a Shabbat table in Queens or a nightclub in Miami — tastes fresh, bright and consistent. The wine regulations of the prestigious Piedmont region are, however, still a challenge, as the millions of cans of the Bartenura wines that are now also sold by Royal cannot legally be packaged in cans in the local wine region. Instead, the cans are produced in Pavia, a region two hours to the east of Piedmont, which has more flexible rules than the tradition-bound Piedmont.
Among the gatekeepers of “serious wine,” Moscato has always been a hard sell. Its sweetness is the opposite of the complex terroir-driven wines that sommeliers love to dissect. Critics often use words like “simple” or “one-note” as if they were mortal sins.
But here’s the thing: Bartenura Moscato is an exceptionally good example of the style it’s meant to be. It’s bright, aromatic with peach and apricot, lightly floral and delicately fizzy.
The balance is key: sweet but not syrupy and refreshing but not cloying. At about 5% alcohol, you can drink it without feeling like you’ve made a major commitment. In the right context — a summer afternoon, a brunch, a toast — it’s exactly what you want it to be.
Critics who dismiss it for not being a Barolo or a Grand Cru Burgundy are missing the point. Bartenura isn’t pretending to be anything other than itself, and that honesty is part of its success.
Bartenura Moscato is proof that wine can be unapologetically easy to drink and still be well-made. It’s a master class in knowing your audience, respecting your own traditions and seizing opportunities when they present themselves.
L’Chaim! ■
Jules Polonetsky is a Wine and Spirits Education Trust Level 3 Certified wine expert who writes for the Wine and Whiskey Globe when not occupied with his day job as CEO of a tech policy think tank. He is a former consumer affairs commissioner of the city of New York.