Wine route
Asti and Monferrato Route
2 days, around 90 km of driving · 6 stops
Open the drivePiedmont · DOCG
Asti DOCG Asti Spumante and Moscato d'Asti, Both Explained
Asti is Piedmont's sweet fizz: one DOCG, one grape and two wines. Asti Spumante is the fully sparkling one, made in tanks and usually sweet. Moscato d'Asti is the gently fizzy one at about five per cent alcohol. Both are at least 97% Moscato bianco, grown on the hills of 51 towns and villages between Alba and Acqui Terme.
60
Wines live now
£8-£54
Price range today
21
UK retailers
Decode the label
What the label tells you
One denomination, 5 things it can say on the front. Colour first, then the qualifier.
On the label
Asti Spumante DOCG
the fully sparkling one
6% actual 11.5% in total, pas dosé to dolce
1 month of tank fermentation, the Martinotti method
The big-house fizz, usually sweet, sometimes dry. The State seal and the consortium's mark sit on every bottle.
In stock from £8.49 See the 9 bottles ↓On the label
Moscato d'Asti DOCG
the gently fizzy one
4.5 to 6.5% actual alcohol, 11% in total
2.5 bar at most, no mushroom cork, vintage on the label
Sweet by law, low in alcohol, made to drink young: the wine the small estates of the Belbo valley are known for.
In stock from £8.25 See the 41 bottles ↓On the label
Asti Metodo Classico
bottle-fermented, nine months on the lees
9 months in bottle on the lees
6% actual 12% in total
The slow version, with a finer bead and a firmer acid floor of 6 grams a litre. Rare.
In stock from £34 See the 1 bottle ↓On the label
Moscato d'Asti Vendemmia Tardiva
late-picked, a year's rest
6 t/ha late-picked, may be dried
11% actual 14% in total, aged a year
Dried-grape richness with the Moscato perfume intact: the dessert wine of the family.
In stock from £10.70 See the 1 bottle ↓On the label
Asti Spumante Rosé
Moscato with a dash of Brachetto
10 to 30% Brachetto with 70 to 90% Moscato
6% actual 11.5% in total
Pale pink and rare: 70 to 90% Moscato with 10 to 30% Brachetto, the red aromatic grape of the same hills.
No bottles in stock right now
The boundary
Where it is
Everything on this page, the estates, the bottles, the sub-zones, sits inside this line.
Wine route
Langhe Nebbiolo Route
2 days · 7 stops
Open the drive
Estate 1
Ceretto
Visit →Alba · San Cassiano
Tastings available
Denomination
Grapes Used
Estate 2
Araldica Vini Piemontesi
Visit →Castel Boglione · Nizza hills
Tastings available
Denomination
Grapes Used
Estate 3
Toso
Visit →Cossano Belbo · Belbo valley
Tastings available
Denomination
Grapes Used
Estate 4
Bersano
Visit →Nizza Monferrato · Piazza Dante
Book online
Denomination
Grapes Used
Estate 5
Ettore Germano
Visit →Serralunga d'Alba · Cerretta
Tastings available
Denomination
Grapes Used
Estate 6
Roberto Sarotto
Visit →Neviglie · Langhe side
Tastings available
Denomination
Grapes Used
Asti DOCG zone
Estates you can visit Wine routes in the zoneOutside the zone
The zone is a band of hills south of the town of Asti, from Santa Vittoria d'Alba and the Belbo valley in the west, through Canelli and Nizza Monferrato, to Acqui Terme in the east: 51 municipalities in the provinces of Cuneo, Asti and Alessandria. The rulebook counts over 10,000 hectares of registered vineyard, a quarter of them on slopes steeper than 30%, between 150 and 600 metres. The west stands on old sandstone that drains fast; the east on the Sant'Agata marls, veined with gypsum, that hold water. Two sub-zones carry their own name: Santa Vittoria d'Alba, one municipality at the western tip, and Strevi, nine municipalities around Acqui in the east. Canelli, the old heart, stays inside the zone and also has a Moscato DOCG of its own.
Inside the zone
51
Municipalities, three provinces
10,000+ ha
Registered vineyard
10 t/ha
Maximum yield
1993
DOCG; DOC since 1967
2
Sub-zones
Click or tap a pin for its estate. The numbered pins match the estate cards below.
Towns worth knowing
Canelli
Santo Stefano Belbo
Nizza Monferrato
Castagnole Lanze
Calosso
Mango
Cossano Belbo
Santa Vittoria d'Alba
Strevi
Acqui Terme
Canelli is the historic capital of the fizz; Santo Stefano Belbo and Mango hold the west, Nizza the middle, and Strevi and Acqui Terme the eastern end.
In the glass
What it tastes like, by style
One profile at a time, never blended into a single set of bars.
Grape
Orange blossom
Peach
Honey
Peach
Apricot
Orange blossom
Grape
White peach
Orange blossom
Honey
Honey
Apricot
Grape
The disciplinare
The rules that define it
The same table on every denomination page, one row group per style here, because Asti writes its rules per colour.
Grape & its role
Share of the blend
050100%
Asti Spumante, Moscato d'Asti and both sub-zones
Moscato biancoThe grape: aromatic, grapey, sweetat least 97%Other aromatic white grapes of PiedmontA top-up the rules allowup to 3%
Asti Spumante rosé
Moscato biancoThe base70 to 90%
BrachettoThe red aromatic grape that colours it10 to 30%Solid means the rules demand it. Striped means optional, up to that amount. The words on the right say the same rule.
At least 97% Moscato bianco with up to 3% of other aromatic whites; the rosé blends in 10 to 30% Brachetto.
Fermentation stopped by cold so alcohol stays low and sugar stays in: 6% actual for Asti, 4.5 to 6.5% for Moscato d'Asti.
Fizz made in tank or in bottle at least a month in tank for Asti Spumante, nine months on the lees for the bottle-fermented version.
Superiore and riserva are banned words and every bottle carries the State seal and the consortium's collective mark.
A vintage on every Moscato d'Asti though not on the spumante types, and no mushroom cork on a Moscato d'Asti.
Ageing and alcohol minimums per tier are in the label guide above.
Editor's cellar
Bottles to try, and what Asti costs in the UK
Every live Asti listing, cheapest to dearest
53 wines · 21 retailers
Live prices, compared across 21 UK retailers.
Cellar doors · inside the zone
Estates you can visit
6 working estates with their gates open, numbered to match their pins on the map above.
Only show
No estates match these filters. Clear a filter to see more.
Experiences in the Asti zone
Cellar experiences here average around €51. These are the strongest fits for this page.
Food pairing
The 4 Sisters
Bersano
From breakfast to dinner. Four wines that don't ask for permission: they're uncorked, poured, and surprised. Easy to drink, never banal. Eve…
2 h From €35 pp
Book via
Winalist
Tasting
Our History
Bersano
The wines that have always been there. The ones on which trust has been built, sip after sip. Our signature, for almost 120 years. Between t…
1 h 30 From €45 pp
Book via
Winalist
Tasting & tour
The Selection
Bersano
Visit to the Museum and the historic cellars, followed by a tasting of 5 labels that have made the history of the Bersano winery: Arturo Cla…
1 h 30 From €60 pp
Book via
Winedering
Two names at the two ends
The sub-zones
Santa Vittoria d'Alba is one municipality at the western tip; Strevi is nine around Acqui Terme in the east. Both cut the crop to 9.5 tonnes, ask riper grapes, and a Moscato d'Asti from either must reach 12% in total.
Santa Vittoria d'Alba
One municipalityOne municipality at the western tip, near Alba. Crop cut to 9.5 tonnes, riper grapes, and a Moscato d'Asti from here reaches 12% in total; the late harvest ages two years.
Strevi
Nine municipalitiesNine municipalities around Acqui Terme in the east, on gypsum-veined marl, from Strevi and Cassine to Visone. Crop cut to 9.5 tonnes; a Moscato d'Asti from here reaches 12% in total.
Vintage provenance
Why there is no vintage chart
No vintage chart is published for Asti. Asti Spumante is usually a blend without a vintage on the label, and Moscato d'Asti is made to drink within a year or two of the harvest it names, so the newest bottle is the one to buy.
Buy the newest bottle; Moscato d'Asti is at its best in the year after the harvest.
What to check instead
The sub-zone: where a wine comes from inside the zone changes what is in the glass. See them above.
The producer: quality here is tracked estate by estate rather than year by year.
How Asti is made
Every Asti starts with Moscato bianco, at least 97% of the vineyard, on hillsides in 51 municipalities across the provinces of Asti, Cuneo and Alessandria. Flat or damp land is out. Yields are capped at 10 tonnes a hectare, 6 for the late-harvest wine. The juice is chilled and fermented slowly so alcohol and sugar stay in balance. For Asti Spumante the fizz is made in a sealed tank over at least a month, the Martinotti method. The wine must reach 11.5% in total, of which at least 6% is actual alcohol, and may run from pas dosé to sweet. A bottle-fermented version spends at least nine months on its lees. Moscato d'Asti stops earlier: 4.5 to 6.5% actual alcohol, a gentle fizz under 2.5 bar, and no mushroom cork. A rosé with 10 to 30% Brachetto and a late-harvest Moscato d'Asti complete the family. Superiore and riserva are banned words.
In depth
The sparkling wine is usually credited to Carlo Gancia at Canelli, around 1870. The DOC came in 1967 and the step up to DOCG in 1993, and the rules have been rewritten many times since. The current rules allow Asti Spumante at any sweetness from pas dosé to dolce, a rosé with Brachetto, and a late-harvest Moscato d'Asti. Canelli, the old heart, stays inside the zone and also has a Moscato DOCG of its own.
The zone is a band of hills south of the town of Asti, from Santa Vittoria d'Alba and the Belbo valley in the west to Acqui Terme in the east. It takes in 51 towns and villages across three provinces. The rulebook counts over 10,000 hectares of vineyard, and a quarter of that land sits on slopes steeper than 30%, which it calls heroic farming. The vines run from 150 to 600 metres, most of them between 200 and 400. The west stands on old sandstone that drains fast; the east on the Sant'Agata marls, veined with gypsum, that hold water. The rulebook maps four accents. Around Santo Stefano Belbo and Mango the wines are very intense and very fine, medium in body. From Canelli eastwards they are fuller and well balanced, and from Nizza to Acqui rich and fat. In the far east, around Strevi, the perfume is intense and extremely fine.
On the shelf the big houses, Martini, Toso and Fontanafredda, sell Asti and Moscato d'Asti for £8 to £10, and Gancia, the Canelli name, for about £12. The small estates, Saracco, La Spinetta, Vajra, Braida and Ceretto among them, sit between £9 and £15. Contratto's bottle-fermented Asti stands alone at about £34, and Ca' d'Gal's old-vine Vite Vecchia, at £54, tops the shelf.
On the table
What to eat with Asti
Baci di dama, panettone, pastiera and fruit tarts: at five to seven per cent alcohol, a sweet Moscato fizz is the pudding wine that does not fight the pudding.
In-depth guide
Asti, answered
Same grape, same hills, different fizz. Asti Spumante is fully sparkling, made in a sealed tank, with at least 6% actual alcohol and a mushroom cork. Moscato d'Asti is only gently fizzy, under 2.5 bar, at 4.5 to 6.5% alcohol, and must carry its vintage. Moscato d'Asti is always sweet; Asti Spumante is usually sweet but may be made dry.
Usually, but not by law. The rules let Asti Spumante run from pas dosé, the driest level, to dolce, and the classic bottle is sweet. Moscato d'Asti is sweet by law: its rulebook lists the taste as dolce, aromatic and sometimes lively.
Moscato bianco, at least 97% of the vineyard, with up to 3% of other aromatic white grapes grown in Piedmont. The rosé version blends 70 to 90% Moscato with 10 to 30% Brachetto, the red aromatic grape of the same hills.
A DOCG, since 1993. It had been a DOC since 1967. Every bottle carries the State seal and the consortium's collective mark, and every batch passes a tasting panel.
On the hills south of the town of Asti in Piedmont. The zone takes in 51 towns and villages in the provinces of Asti, Cuneo and Alessandria, from Santa Vittoria d'Alba near Alba to Acqui Terme. The vines sit between 150 and 600 metres, and a quarter of the 10,000 hectares are on slopes steeper than 30%.
Yes, if the label says Asti DOCG or Moscato d'Asti DOCG and carries the State seal. The rules are the same for every bottle: 97% Moscato from the 51 towns and villages, fermentation stopped by cold, a tasting panel. An £8 to £10 bottle from Martini, Toso or Fontanafredda is the genuine article.
Pudding, or nothing at all. At five to seven per cent alcohol both wines suit baci di dama, panettone, pastiera and fruit tarts, and Moscato d'Asti is the glass Piedmont pours with its hazelnut biscuits. Serve them cold, at 6 to 8 degrees.
Most bottles on the shelf sit between £8 and £15. The big houses start under £10, and small-estate Moscato d'Asti from Saracco, Vajra, Braida or Ceretto runs £9 to £15. At the top, Contratto's bottle-fermented Asti is about £34 and Ca' d'Gal's old-vine Vite Vecchia £54. The price table on this page tracks live UK shop prices.
Explore more Piedmont
Same region only: the denominations Asti drinkers reach for next.
