Asti (wine)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

{{Infobox wine region , name = Asti , official name = , other name = , image = Asti wine.jpg , imagealt = , caption = A glass of Asti , type =
DOCG The following four classification of wine, classifications of wine constitute the Italy, Italian system of labelling and legally protecting Italian wine: * ''Denominazione di origine'' (DO, rarely used; ; 'designation of origin'); * ''Indicazione ...
, year = 1967 (DOC; elevated to DOCG 1993) , wine years = , country =
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, part of =
Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...
, similar = , sub regions = Canelli, Santa Vittoria d’Alba, Strevi , season = , climate region = , heat units = , precipitation = , soil = , total size = , planted = {{convert, 7770, ha{{Cite web , title = Asti DOCG , work = Italian Wine Central , access-date = 13 August 2019 , url = https://italianwinecentral.com/denomination/asti-docg/ , vineyards = , grapes = , varietals = Moscato Bianco , wineries = , wine produced = {{convert, 665790, hl , designation = , comments = Asti (also known as Asti spumante){{cite book , first = Oz , last = Clarke , title = Oz Clarke's Encyclopedia of Wine , pages = 73–74 , publisher = Time Warner Books , location = London , year = 2003 , isbn = 0-316-72654-0 is a sparkling white
Italian wine Italian wine () is produced in every region of Italy. Italy is the country with the widest variety of indigenous grapevine in the world, with an area of under vineyard cultivation, as well as the List of wine-producing regions#Countries, world's ...
that is produced throughout southeastern
Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...
, but is particularly focused around the towns of
Asti Asti ( , ; ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) of 74,348 inhabitants (1–1–2021) located in the Italy, Italian region of Piedmont, about east of Turin, in the plain of the Tanaro, Tanaro River. It is the capital of the province of Asti and ...
and
Alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English-language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingd ...
. Since 1993 the wine has been classified as a ''
denominazione di origine controllata e garantita The following four classification of wine, classifications of wine constitute the Italy, Italian system of labelling and legally protecting Italian wine: * ''Denominazione di origine'' (DO, rarely used; ; 'designation of origin'); * ''Indicazione ...
'' (DOCG) and as of 2004 was Italy's largest producing
appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the ingredients of a food or beverage originated, most often used for the origin of wine grapes. Restrictions other than geographical boundaries, s ...
.{{cite book , first = Peter , last = Saunders , title = Wine Label Language , page = 123 , publisher = Firefly Books , year = 2004 , isbn = 1-55297-720-X On an average
vintage In winemaking, vintage is the process of picking grapes to create wine. A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine ...
more than ten times as much Asti is produced in Piedmont than the more well-known Piedmontese red wine
Barolo Barolo ( , , ; ) is a red (DOCG) wine produced in the northern Italian region of Piedmont. It is made from the nebbiolo grape and is often described as one of Italy's greatest wines. The zone of production extends into the communes of Baro ...
.{{cite book , first = Karen , last = MacNeil , title = The Wine Bible , pages
333-335
, publisher = Workman Publishing , year = 2001 , isbn = 1-56305-434-5 , url-access = registration , url = https://archive.org/details/winebible00kare/page/333
Made from the Moscato Bianco grape, it is sweet and low in
alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...
, and often served with dessert. Unlike
Champagne Champagne (; ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, which demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...
, Asti is not made sparkling through the use of secondary fermentation in the bottle, but rather through a single tank fermentation utilizing the Charmat method. It retains its sweetness through a complex
filtration Filtration is a physical separation process that separates solid matter and fluid from a mixture using a ''filter medium'' that has a complex structure through which only the fluid can pass. Solid particles that cannot pass through the filte ...
process. Another wine called
Moscato d'Asti Moscato d'Asti is a DOCG sparkling white wine made from the Moscato bianco grape and produced mainly in the province of Asti, northwest Italy, and in smaller nearby regions in the provinces of Alessandria and Cuneo. The wine is sweet and low ...
is made in the same region from the same grape, but is only slightly sparkling ''(frizzante)'' and tends to have even lower alcohol. On 22 June 2014, Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato was declared a
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
.Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
This landscape covers five distinct wine-growing areas and the Castle of Cavour, an important site both in the development of vineyards and in
Italian history Italy has been inhabited by humans Prehistoric Italy, since the Paleolithic. During antiquity, there were many ancient peoples of Italy, peoples in the Italian peninsula, including Etruscan civilization, Etruscans, Latins, Samnites, Umbri, Cisal ...
.


History

The Moscato Bianco grape (also known as Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains) has long been found in the Piedmont and, along with
Nebbiolo Nebbiolo (, ; ) is an Italian red wine grape variety predominantly associated with its native Piedmont region, where it makes the ''Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita'' (DOCG) wines of Barolo, Barbaresco, Gattinara, Ghemme, a ...
, may be one of the oldest grapes in the region. However, the production of sparkling Asti from Moscato Bianco is a relatively recent product. The first sparkling Asti is believed to have been produced around 1870 by Carlo Gancia who studied the
Champagne method Sparkling wine production is the method of winemaking used to produce sparkling wine. The oldest known production of sparkling wine took place in 1531 with the ''ancestral method''. Pressure and terminology In popular parlance and also in the ...
used to produce the notable wine in the
Champagne wine region The wine region within the historical province of Champagne in the northeast of France is best known for the production of champagne, the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name. EU law and the laws of most countries reserve the term ...
of
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. Producing his wine in the town of
Canelli Canelli (Piedmontese: ''Canèj'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Asti in the Italian region of Piedmont. As of 31 January 2024 it has a population of 10,022 Canelli is located on a bend of the river Belbo in the ''Alto Monferrat ...
along the river
Belbo The Belbo is a river of southern Piedmont, Italy. It is a right-side tributary of the Tanaro. Geography The Belbo rises in the Langhe, on the borders between Piedmont and Liguria in the hills of Montezemolo. After flowing through the Piedmonte ...
, the wine grew in such popularity that Moscato Bianco developed the
synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...
of ''Muscat Canelli'' that is still seen on
wine labels Wine labels are important sources of information for consumers since they tell the type and origin of the wine. The label is often the only resource a buyer has for evaluating the wine before purchasing it. Certain information is ordinarily inclu ...
today. After
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Asti saw an uptick in popularity in the United States as returning soldiers from the war brought their taste for the light, sweet wine home with them. The increasing demand saw many producers turn to
bulk wine Boxed wine (cask wine) is a wine sold in " bag-in-box" packaging. Traditionally, this consists of a cardboard box containing a wine filled plastic reservoir. The flow of the wine from the box is controlled by a valve. History The process for ...
production using the Charmat method, which makes the wine sparkling through a closed fermentation in a tank rather than a secondary fermentation the individual bottle as in Champagne and Cava. The large amounts of exported Asti (then known as ''Asti Spumante'') that hit the export market (to both the United States as well as the United Kingdom) garnered a poor reputation for being what wine expert Karen MacNeil describes as "a noxiously sweet poor man's Champagne." Remnants of this reputation remained attached to the name Asti Spumante for much of the 20th century. When the wine was promoted to DOCG status in 1993, producers sought to distinguish themselves from that reputation and dropped the use of ''Spumante'' altogether in favor of the shortened Asti name. Along with the name change came a change in style, with several producers creating more modern styles of Asti that are less sweet and have more ripe fruit flavors. {{Clear


Production zone

Asti is produced in the southeastern region of Piedmont where the large concentration of rolling hills provides ample space for vineyard plantings. The DOCG production zone is located mostly in the
Province of Asti The province of Asti (; Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ''provincia d'Ast'') is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Asti. To the northwest it borders on the Metropolitan City of Turin; ...
and partly within the provinces of
Cuneo Cuneo (; ; ; ) is a city and in Piedmont, Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in the south-west of Piedmont, at the confluence of the ri ...
and
Alessandria Alessandria (; ) is a city and commune in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. It is also the largest municipality of the region. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, ...
.{{cite book , first1 = Mary , last1 = Ewing-Mulligan , first2 = Ed , last2 = McCarthy , title = Italian Wines for Dummies , pages = 60–62 , publisher = Hungry Minds , year = 2001 , isbn = 0-7645-5355-0


Original definition

The area was first defined in 1932 as comprising the following 45
communes A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...
: In Asti:
Asti Asti ( , ; ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) of 74,348 inhabitants (1–1–2021) located in the Italy, Italian region of Piedmont, about east of Turin, in the plain of the Tanaro, Tanaro River. It is the capital of the province of Asti and ...
, Bubbio, Calamandrana, Calosso,
Canelli Canelli (Piedmontese: ''Canèj'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Asti in the Italian region of Piedmont. As of 31 January 2024 it has a population of 10,022 Canelli is located on a bend of the river Belbo in the ''Alto Monferrat ...
, Cassinasco, Castagnole delle Lanze, Castel Boglione, Castel Rocchero,
Castelnuovo Belbo Castelnuovo Belbo () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Asti in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about southeast of Asti. Castelnuovo Belbo borders the following municipalities: Bergamasco, Bruno, ...
,
Cessole Cessole is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Asti in the Italy, Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about south of Asti. Cessole borders the following municipalities: Bubbio, Cossano Belbo, Loazzolo, Roccav ...
, Coazzolo,
Costigliole d'Asti Costigliole d'Asti () is a small Italy, Italian town in the Province of Asti, southern Piedmont. It lies about south of the city of Asti in the Alto Monferrato, on the edge of the Langhe, in the alluvial plain of the river Tanaro southwards into ...
, Fontanile, Incisa Scapaccino, Loazzolo, Maranzana, Moasca,
Mombaruzzo Mombaruzzo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Asti in the Regions of Italy, Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about southeast of Asti. Mombaruzzo borders the following municipalities: Bruno (AT), Bruno, ...
, Monastero Bormida, Montabone, Nizza Monferrato, Quaranti, San Marzano Oliveto, Sessame and Vesime. In Cuneo: Camo,
Castiglione Tinella Castiglione Tinella is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about northeast of Cuneo Cuneo (; ; ; ) is a city and in Piedmont, Italy, the capital of th ...
, Cossano Belbo,
Mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...
, Neive, Neviglie, Rocchetta Belbo, Santo Stefano Belbo,
Treiso Treiso is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italy, Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about 50 kilometres northeast of Cuneo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 764 and an ar ...
and Trezzo Tinella. In Alessandria:
Acqui Terme Acqui Terme (; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Alessandria, Piedmont, northern Italy. It is about south-southwest of Alessandria. It is one of the principal winemaking communes of the Italian DOCG wine Brachetto d'Acqui. The c ...
, Alice Bel Colle, Bistagno, Cassine, Castelletto Molina,
Grognardo Grognardo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about southwest of Alessandria. Grognardo borders the following municipalities: Acqui Terme, Cavatore, ...
, Ricaldone, Strevi, Terzo and Visone. The province of Cuneo is more mountainous than the other provinces and has fewer vineyards that are concentrated closer to the
Po Valley The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain (, , or ) is a major geographical feature of northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetian Plain, Venetic extension not actu ...
. The Monferrato Hills that extend from the Po southward towards the Apennines covers much of the vineyard area in the Asti and Alessandria area with the name ''Monferrato'' sometimes appearing on bottles of Asti.


Expansion

In 1967 the zone was extended to include the communes of Rocchetta Palafea in Asti,
Alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English-language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingd ...
, Santa Vittoria d'Alba and Serralunga d'Alba in Cuneo. Since 1976 production of the wine has additionally been permitted in the communes of Castino and Perletto in Cuneo as well as San Giorgio Scarampi in Asti.


DOCG regulations and production

Under Italian wine laws, all Asti DOCG wine must be 100% made from the Moscato Bianco grape with the grapes harvested to a yield no greater than 10
tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000  kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...
/
hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...
. The finished wine must be
fermented Fermentation is a type of anaerobic metabolism which harnesses the redox potential of the reactants to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and organic end products. Organic compound, Organic molecules, such as glucose or other sugars, are Catabo ...
to a minimum
alcohol level Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as alc/vol or ABV) is a common measure of the amount of alcohol contained in a given alcoholic beverage. It is defined as the volume the ethanol in the liquid would take if separated from the rest of the solution, ...
that varies depending on the
vintage In winemaking, vintage is the process of picking grapes to create wine. A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine ...
and is usually between 7-9.5%. Asti get their fizziness from a single fermentation that takes place in stainless steel tanks (as opposed to a secondary fermentation taking place in a
wine bottle A wine bottle is a bottle, generally a glass bottle, that is used for holding wine. Some wines are fermentation (wine), fermented in the bottle while others are bottled only after fermentation. Recently the bottle has become a standard unit of ...
like Champagne). After the grapes are harvested, they are crushed and pressed, with the must transferred to large tanks where the temperature is lowered to just above freezing in order to prevent fermentation from beginning. The tanks are sealed and pressurized, and then the temperature is raised to allow fermentation to begin. Within the tanks the
carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...
by-product of fermentation is trapped with the gas dissolving into the wine and creating the ultimate source of the bubbles that are seen in a wine glass. Fermentation is allowed to continue until the wine has reached between 7-9% alcohol and between 3-5%
residual sugar The subjective sweetness of a wine is determined by the interaction of several factors, including the amount of sugar in the wine, but also the relative levels of alcohol, acids, and tannins. Sugars and alcohol enhance a wine's sweetness, while ...
. The wine is chilled again to halt fermentation before it is sent to a
centrifuge A centrifuge is a device that uses centrifugal force to subject a specimen to a specified constant force - for example, to separate various components of a fluid. This is achieved by spinning the fluid at high speed within a container, thereby ...
that filters and removes all
yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...
from the wine to prevent fermentation from resuming. The wine is then bottled and shipped. Most Asti is not vintage-dated, however the large consumption and quick turnover of the wine usually means that the wines on the market are from the most recent vintage.


Wine styles

Master of Wine Mary Ewing-Mulligan notes that many of the flavors of Asti wine can be tasted in the ripe grapes of Moscato bianco. This is somewhat unusual in wine since many of the flavors of a finished wine come from phenolic compounds in the pulp and skin that develop in the wine through fermentation and maceration of the skins. In describing a finished Asti wine, Ewing-Mulligan notes that the wines usually have very floral aromas with peach flavors and enough
acidity An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis acid. The first category of acids are the ...
to balance out the sweetness in the wine. According to wine expert Karen MacNeil modern Asti wines have the characteristic " muskiness" of a
Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...
based wine but are "not sugary sweet like candy but, rather, dizzyingly fruity and evocative of perfectly ripe peaches and apricots." The wines are typically served chilled and in a
champagne flute A champagne glass is stemware designed for champagne and other sparkling wines. The two most common forms are the flute and coupe, both stemmed; holding the glass by the stem prevents warming the drink. Champagne can also be drunk from a normal ...
style glass. Asti is often consumed very young and as close to the vintage as possible. After two years, the wine rapidly loses the fresh, floral notes and becomes heavier and richer in body. While still drinkable, older Asti tends not to exhibit the typical light, fruity flavors that are usually associated with the wine. Despite its sweetness, Asti has enough acidity to be versatile in food and wine pairings. While it is often drunk as an aperitif, it can be paired with salads, spicy Asian cuisine and even, as wine expert Oz Clarke notes, with
Christmas pudding Christmas pudding is sweet, boiled or steamed pudding traditionally served as part of Christmas dinner in Great Britain, Britain and other countries to which the tradition has been exported. It has its origins in England in the Middle Ages, me ...
.


See also

{{Portal, Italy, Drink, Wine


References

{{reflist


External links


Consorzio dell'Asti - MultilanguageConcorso enologico nazionale Douja d'Or - Asti
Italian DOCG Sparkling wines Wines of Piedmont Province of Alessandria Province of Asti Province of Cuneo Monferrato Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato