DOCGs
Asti DOCG (aka Asti Spumante), Moscato d’Asti DOCG
Grape Variety
Moscato Bianco (Muscat Blanc à Petit Grains)
Three Provinces of Piemonte
Asti, Alexandria, Cuneo
Primary Method
Tank
Asti Method
Modified tank method
Flavor Profile
”- Pronounced
- Low ABV
- Orange blosson, grapes, peach
- M acid
- Sweet”
Asti DOCG v Moscato d’Asti DOCG
Asti Spumante = higher ABV, fully sparkling, less sweet
Climate
Moderate Continental
Climate Description
”- Cold winters, hot/dry summers
- Adequate rainfall (spring + autumn = rainiest)”
Growing Environment
”- Regulations require grapes to be grown on hillside sites
- Limestone + Clay soils
- Max yields resstricted to 75 hL/ha for tank method wines
- Planted at medium denisty
- Guyot trained, VSP trellised “
Moscato Bianco
”- aka Muscat Blanc à Petit Grains
- Aromatic, early buddying, mid-ripening, small berry size”
Risks
”- Rain disrupting fruit-set and harvest
- Powdery mildww, botrytis, mites”
Risk Mitigation
”- Plant on slopes for drainage
- Canopy mgmt for to avoid share + enhance air flow
- Clonal selection to make it more resistant to disease, perfumed, and higher yielding”
Harvest
”- Date decided by ripeness + desired acidity (to balance with sweetness of final wine)
- Early to mid September (before Oct rains)
- Asti Spumante picked earlier for acidity; Moscato d’A picked later for aromatic intensity
- Hand harvest on steeper slopes”
Winemaking - Two Phases
“1. Production, calrification, filtration of must + chilling and storage
2. Single fermentation of the warmed-up must when required by demand”
Winemaking - Fermentation
”- Single fermentation
- Pressure-resistent, temperature controlled tanks at low temperatures (61 - 64)
- Neutral yeast, no MLF
- CO2 comes from the sugar in the must (not tirage)
- RS comes from stopping the ferm before dryness (not dosage)”
Winemaking - Pressure Options
”- Frizzante: approx 2.5 atmospheres (semi sparkling)
- Spumante”
Winemaking - CO2 & RS
”- CO2 released by valve in tank
- Falling sugar levels monitored (waiting for the point where there’s enough sugar to create desired pressure and leave the desired level of RS)
- Tank valve is closed to retain CO2
- Fermentation is stopped via chilling when desired RS obtained
- Filtered under pressure to remove yeast”
Winemaking - Release
Released after a few weeks and intended to be drunk young
How long can chilled must be stored?
2 years
Why are there two phases?
The idea is to release the wine with the freshest primary fruit flavors throughout the year
Winemaking - Considerations
Large investments for presses, flotation tanks, filtration/centrifuge equipment, heat exchangers, refridgerated storage space, ongoing energy
Asti DOCG
”- 6 - 8% ABV
- Sweet (100 g/L)
- New regulations allow higher ABV which means dryer style (now ranging from Extra Dry to Dolce (e.g. 12 g/L +)
- In the process of approving Brut Nature”
Asti DOCG - Metodo Classico
- 9 months on lees in bottle, Dolce in sweetness (50 g/L)
