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My wife and I went shopping at the Trader Joe’s in Fairfax last night, and I did what I always do - walk the aisles of cheap wine. Not that cheap wine is a bad thing, in Trader Joe’s case. Yes yes, Two Buck Chuck and all of that - whatever. They also tend to have some real bargains on the shelves, and sometimes even some hidden gems. I found my first Bonarda and my first Torrontes there (both from Amaicha). But I thought I had found all their secret (or, borrowing Trader Joe’s metaphor, buried) treasures.

Not so! As I scanned I saw something I never had before, called “Lexia”. What the heck is Lexia? It turns out to be the Australian name for the grape better known as Muscat of Alexandria. Score! I’ve been looking for something with Muscat of Alexandria for months now. It’s one of the more obscure items on the Wine Century Club’s list. This particular bottle was the Alice White Lexia 2006. The back of the bottle describes it as, “a classic white Muscat with fragrant aromas of apricots, mangos and lilacs and sweet, luscious flavors balanced by a crisp, refreshing finish.” Sounds good to me - and at $6.49, what do I have to lose?

As it turns out, if you don’t like really sweet wines, what you have to lose is $6.49. But if you can get past that, this bottle may be worth taking a chance on. First, chill the bottle very well - believe me that it makes a difference. Then the pour - it’s very pale in the glass. The nose hits you immediately with perfume and, I think, a bit of pineapple that carries right over to the taste. There’s also a fair amount of floral perfume to the taste, and, as mentioned, a fair amount of sweetness. It’s only 10% alcohol, so I guess that shouldn’t have been surprising.

There was also another light fruit taste that took me a while to pin down, but finally it came to me - donut peaches. I first had these this past summer, and when they’re good, they’re really good. “Good” includes a sort of black tea tannin taste, with white peach taste but also a lot of floral characteristics. Those are the same flowers in the Alice White Lexia. I don’t know if they’re lilacs or not, but there’s a whole bouquet of them, whatever they are.

As you might imagine if you’ve had other perfumed wines (like Gewürztraminer or Viognier), this bottle would go great with Thai food. I actually opened it to pair with some jerk chicken we grilled this evening, and that worked out; the sweetness countered the spices just fine. I would absolutely go back to this again for a Thai green curry the next time I make it.

What I paid: $6.49
What I would pay next time: $7-8

It’s a bit better than advertised, but again, you have to not mind sweet wines. It’s not a dessert wine, but it could almost be served as one. Come to think of it, fresh peach cobbler would be a great pairing. Mmm… okay, now I’m hungry again.

Lexia = Muscat of Alexandria. A good find, and another one for the life list. I really hope I can find a higher-end MoA some time soon to see what its potential is - I suspect it can be really good.

Update Sunday 10/7 - I just saw this at our local Giant grocery in Vienna as well, so apparently it’s more widely available than I realized.