ASTI SPUMANTE/ASTI

[pamelah148]

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ASTI AND ASTI SPUMANTE?

[Drew]

Asti is an Italian DOGC Zone and Spumante is a sparkling wine.

Barbera is the everyday wine of the Piedmont. This popular red cultivated in far greater quantities than its better-known neighbors on hills along the Po River, is one of the region’s two most widely cultivated grapes. The other is often overlooked in all the attention lavished on the super premium Barolo, Barbaresco and Nebbiolo wines. That grape is Moscato Bianco, which gives us sparkling Asti
Spumante and the only slightly less ebullient
Moscato d’Asti. Even though sweet sparkling wine may have fallen out of fashion in the press, Asti’s sparkling wines arrive in amazing quantities on store shelves and dinner tables. In 2003, DOCG producers turned out 14 million gallons of bubbly. Asti is the most productive DOCG zone of Italy. Asti Spumante is usually crisper and more aromatic than its serious but sweeter Moscato sibling, although winemaking techniques often alter those differences. The best Spumante and the best Moscato
are distinguished by their harmonious blend of peach and apricot sweetness and tangy but pleasing acidity. The Spumante is preferable as an appetizer and the Moscato as a dessert wine, but they are interchangeable and are pleasant companions with any course at table.


The above was taken from the below article.

http://www.italianmade.com/library/PDFs/Vinotizie200412.pdf

Drew

[pamelah148]

Thanks Drew. I asked that because I accidentally picked up Asti instead of the Asti Spumanti. I appreciate your response. I am new to all this. I like wine but have no real knowledge of it. I like sweet wines but have not tried very many. White Ziffendales have been about the extent of my experience and not many of those. I know I had the Asti Spumanti at a wedding and liked it very much. I would like to expand on those experiences but it becomes very daunting when you stand looking at all the choices and have not a real clue what your looking at. If you or anyone else can offer any advice on other wines that fall in the catagory of sweet and not real dry it would be appreciated.