Spumante Asti Isola d'Asti

There is no other "Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita" wine like Asti: it is "the" aromatic sparkling wine par excellence.
The nose is rich and generous, redolent of orange and acacia blossom, of wisteria flowers and honey too; in the background lurk hints of elderflower blossom, clary, and bergamot. As with any wine, there are many factors that influence its character, including the land and the winery.

Asti flourishes in a unique environment and exploits methods invented and perfected in Piedmont, which capture the distinctively crisp, fruity aromas of its grape. History, traditions, dedication, marketing genius, new applications, and unceasing research maintain its exceptional image and enhance its inherent distinctiveness.Asti's secret is carefully preserving all the varietal fragrance of the grape, intense but balanced, with a judicious crispness holding its sweetness in check.

An exceptional growing area for moscato, ideal for quality and distinctiveness. But a vineyard planted in a specifically delimited area is never coincidence; the vineyard is matched to that chosen spot in the expectation that it will flourish and yield good fruit.
The extensive region where Asti is born is located in the hills on the right bank of the Tanaro river, in the Langhe and the Alto Monferrato districts, both with soils originating in the Tertiary period.
The soils of both are sedimentary, with no rock, so soils are extremely friable, and earth slides are frequent, especially following rains.
The Langhe hills are very linear, with many steep, eroded gullies, the calanchi; its long hill-crests decline so gradually they seem almost horizontal.
Monferrato's hills are more rounded and smoother, the slopes quite gentle and verdant valleyfloors contrast strikingly with the sun-burnt ridges.
The Langhe and Monferrato: Asti's lands. Hills with identical geological origins, peoples sharing different characters but common fears. The monferrino has a more open character, since his hills are such and the roads he travels are far from the "international scenes."

But both inhabitants share the conviction that "the enemy" lurks everywhere, share deep-seated fears represented by the imaginative "masche," or supernatural spirits, and by blind chance that determines the outcome of the harvest. Shared too is their ability to resist the enemy, real or imagined, that will eventually appear at the door (or in the imagination) of the grape grower.
Similarly, the cellar worker must beware of magic spells, or the Moscato that suddenly starts fermenting, that takes off and won't stop, the barrel that is leaking, the moon that must be read correctly to know when to bottle, the bottles that explode, the business deals that must remain hidden.
Perhaps all this is over, gone the way of Asti's heroic age, given way to hard-bitten professional struggles, to continuous competition that has led to the creation of ever more refined and higher quality products. To a world considerably less fanciful and attractive than before.
Asti is this as well, and perhaps more.