Asti Flashcards
(15 cards)
Asti/Moscato d’Asti Style, Quality, Price:
pronounced aromas
orange blossom, grapes and peach
medium acidity
most have lower alcohol than most wines
sweet
Asti DOCG (also known as Asti Spumante):
typically slightly higher in alcohol
fully sparkling
Moscato d’Asti DOCG:
lower in alcohol,
semi-sparkling
typically higher RS
Quality: good to very good quality
Price: tend to be inexpensive or mid-priced
Asti: Factors affecting temperature
climate: moderate continental
cold winters
hot, dry summers
adequate rainfall with spring and autumn as the rainiest seasons. The former can affect fruit set
Asti: Factors affecting water availability and nutrient availability
adequate rainfall with spring and autumn as the rainiest seasons
in spring can affect fruit set
Asti: hazards
adequate rainfall with spring and autumn as the rainiest seasons
in spring can affect fruit set
Asti: Considerations in vineyard establishment
- Hillside sites → better sunlight + drainage
- Soils: pref. limestone (most aromatic juice) + clay
- Also planted on clay (commercial success)
- Max yield: 75 hL/ha (tank method)
- Medium planting density
- Training: Guyot + VSP
- Guyot + low fertility + moderate rainfall → avoids over-cropping
- VSP → good sunlight exposure, avoids excess canopy and humidity = lower fungal risk + good ripening
Asti: Considerations in planting materials
- Moscato Bianco = Italian name for Muscat Blanc à Petit Grains
- Aromatic, early budding, mid-ripening
- Small berries
- Susceptible: powdery mildew, botrytis bunch rot
- Needs careful canopy mgmt: avoid shade, enhance air circulation
- Thin skin + aroma → attracts bees, wasps, ants (feed on fruit) + mites
- Clonal selection → ↑ disease resistance, perfume, yield
Asti: Considerations in managing nutrients and water
- Hillside planting → better sunlight + drainage
- Soil pref.: limestone (most aromatic juice) + clay
- Also planted on clay (commercial success)
- Max yield: 75 hL/ha (tank method)
Asti: Considerations in canopy management, harvest
- Medium planting density
- Training: Guyot + VSP
- Guyot + low fertility + moderate rainfall → avoids over-cropping
- VSP → good sunlight exposure → ↓ humidity → ↓ fungal risk + good ripening
- In hot years: avoid excess leaf removal → prevent sunburn
** Harvest**: based on ripeness + desired acidity (balances sweetness)
* Timing: early–mid Sept, before Oct rains
* Asti: picked earlier → ↑ acidity
* Moscato d’Asti: picked later → ↑ aromatics
- Hand harvest: steep slopes / whole bunches needed
- Mechanical harvest: increasingly used where possible (cheaper)
Asti: winemaking
- Whole bunches → can be whole bunch pressed (believed best quality)
- If destemmed or machine-picked → press ASAP to minimize oxidation
- Must is clarified after pressing
Phase 1: Must prep (often off-site)
- Production, clarification, filtration of must
- Chilled to 2–3°C for storage (if not fermented immediately)
- Purpose: maintain freshness for later fermentation (fresh fruit flavours year-round)
- Must can be stored up to 2 yrs without losing aromatics
Phase 2: Fermentation (on demand)
- Single fermentation of warmed must
- Large investment: presses, flotation tanks, centrifuge/filtration, heat exchangers, refrigerated storage
- High ongoing energy costs (machinery + chilled storage)
Fermentation process
- Low temps (16–18°C) → preserve primary fruit
- Neutral cultured yeast → preserve aromatics
- Fermentation in pressure-resistant, temp-controlled tanks
- MLF prevented → preserve acidity
- No tirage/dosage; CO₂ = from fermentation of original must
- RS = from stopping fermentation early, not dosage
Pressure + RS control
- Initially: CO₂ released via valve
- Sugar levels monitored
- At set sugar level (for desired pressure + RS): valve closed → retain CO₂
- When target RS + pressure reached → fermentation stopped by chilling + pressure filtration
- Wine released after few weeks → meant to be consumed young
ASTI DOCG laws:
- Traditional style:
- Final ABV: 6–8%
- Sweet wines (\~100 g/L RS)
- Recent regulation changes:
- ABV: open-ended above 6% (allows drier styles)
- Styles allowed: Pas Dosé (Brut Nature) → Dolce
- Asti Metodo Classico permitted:
- Min. 9m on lees (bottle)
- Styles: Pas Dosé → Dolce
MOSCATO D’ASTI DOCG laws
final alcohol has to be 4.5–6.5% abv
sweeter than Asti DOCG (around 130g/L RS), i.e. Dolce
frizzante (not exceed 2.5 atmospheres)
CANELLI DOCG laws
2023: former Canelli subzone of Asti DOCG became Canelli DOCG
grapes grown in the area
like Moscato d’Asti:
final alcohol 4.5–6.5% abv
includes Canelli Riserva: must be aged for 30 months before release
Players of Asti and Moscato d’Asti:
- High equipment + storage needs → ↑ production costs
- Most wine made by large producers
- Top 4 (incl. Martini & Rossi, largest) = 60%+ of total production
- Smaller producers (incl. top Barolo/Barbaresco estates):
- Option 1: send grapes to specialist sparkling producers
- Option 2: buy HQ grapes → wine made by specialist → own label
- Co-ops play key role:
- Supply chilled, clarified, filtered juice to large firms for fermentation
- Example: Martini & Rossi
- \~35% from 300 growers (pressed/chilled at MR station)
- Remainder sourced from various suppliers incl. co-ops
Asti: marketing:
- Asti DOCG consorzio promotes 3 styles:
- Moscato d’Asti
- Asti Secco (off-dry)
- Asti / Asti Dolce (traditional sweet)
- Asti Secco → allows competition with Prosecco in off-dry segment
- Asti consorzio part of Piemonte Land of Wine → umbrella body for all regional denominations
Asti: production (export, vulumes split)
- 2020 production split:
- Asti (Spumante): 59%
- Moscato d’Asti: 41%
- Top 3 markets for Asti:
- Russia
- USA
- UK
- Moscato d’Asti production ↑ nearly 3× (2009–2020)
- Driven mainly by USA demand
- \~40% sold to USA in 2020
