Each Friday, David Brenner of Villasfor2 in Abruzzo selects a delicious, top-value 'Everday Italian Wine' for you to enjoy at home - or on your Abruzzo vacation !

Asti Spumante. Martini
- Have a sip of this

- Mmm, that's lovely ! What is it ?

- Asti Spumante

- Yecchhh ! I hate Asti Spumante…

…and yes, you do hate the Asti Spumante that's essentially carbonated grape juice and sugar syrup that costs less to make than the plastic-stoppered bottle in which it's sold, and is served-up at cut-price weddings and Grandma's 90th birthday party. I hate it too. But this is different. This is absolutely the real deal and it's fun, frothy, fruity and fundamentally fab.

A few weeks back, we tasted a Prosecco made by that other Italian drinks megalith Cinzano which was OK, but just slightly…peculiar. Find out more here. With that experience in mind, I approached this Martini-made Asti Spumante with caution. My doubts were dispelled as soon as the cork popped.

You get this instant, massive rush of the wonderful scent of ripe Muscat grapes that makes you want to just slosh this wine into a glass as quickly as possible so you can get to taste it.

And yes, of course, there is a definite sweetness here. Muscat is after all a sweet grape variety. But the sweetness consists entirely of the pure, natural essences of the Muscat grape, light and delicious, without even the remotest hint of that cloying artificial sweetness that makes inferior Asti such a disgusting experience.

This Asti Spumante is labelled 'Dolce' - but that's a little misleading because I actually didn't find it that sweet. Unless you splash out for an expensive Sauternes, you truly will not find a better wine than this to eat with pastries and desserts - especially a really super-rich one like Creme Brulee ! Or ripe strawberries just dipped in a little caster sugar. Just steer clear of anything chocolatey, which is death to most wine. (Except, bizarrely, one or two reds - but that's a story for another day…)

You can also find semi-sweet and dry versions of Asti Spumante, but I think this rather misses the point by trying to turn the wine into something it isn't. It's not supposed to ape champagne - or any other dry, fizzy white wine. It is what it is. Soft, fruity and very low in alcohol. At it's very best - like this bottle from Martini - it's extremely well-made, well-balanced and fully deserves its DOCG status. The fact that it has DOCG status surprises many. The fact that Martini alone produce 20 million bottles of this a year shows that quality and quantity can sometimes go hand-in-hand.

Don't be a wine snob. Try it.

At A Glance…

• This week's featured wine: Asti Spumante
• Producer: Martini & Rossi
• Designation: DOCG
• Grape: 100% Moscato Bianco
• Strength: 7.5%
• Closure: Cork and wire
• This bottle cost: €4.80

Click on the pictures in the text for larger images - and if you like Italian wine, check out last week's 'Everyday Italian Wine' - a brand-new DOCG red from Tuscany - and bookmark this site for future weekly posts.

Next Week: Can good wine be produced in the shadow of Mt Blanc ? We sample a red from the Valle d'Aosta and discover whether you'll enjoy drinking it at home - or on your Villasfor2 Abruzzo vacation !

Abruzzo vacation, Asti Spumante, Everyday Italian Wine, Villasfor2

This entry was posted on Friday, October 17th, 2008 at 3:21 am and is filed under David's 'Everyday Italian Wine', Eating and Drinking, Vineyards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.