Ca' d'Gal ASTI Spumante NV

Sometimes it’s easier to start with what a wine isn’t rather than what it is. In a story similar to that of Beaujolais in the 1980s, Asti Spumante was picked up as the ‘new thing’ by the regional giants, who liberally delved into the marketing budget. How did that famous TV advert go? — “Asti Spumante: bubbling, sparking, exciting, like life itself!”. You know the story: lazy viticulture, massive yields, cheap to produce and margin to be made.

This Spumante is not one of those wines. Sandro Boido is Moscato’s answer to grower Champagne, with all this entails. To begin with, Boido’s Spumante is hand-harvested from just 1.5 hectares of Moscato Bianco di Canelli, the Rolls Royce clone of Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains. Talking of the key differences vis-à-vis Moscato d’Asti; here the wine is bottled with between 4-5 bars of pressure and around 7.5% abv, both considerably higher than the semi-sparking Moscato d’Asti. So, in real terms, the Spumante is closer to traditional sparkling wine and is drier than its close relative.

Reminiscent of warm summer days, it’s dizzyingly aromatic, capturing sunny notes of elderflower, mandarin oranges and citrus blossoms, illuminated by buoyant effervescence on the tongue. Flavours of peach skin and pear melt on the palate like candy floss: it’s a perfectly light and balanced wine with a surprising level of complexity. So versatile, it would happily work with a range of flavours, from fresh fruit desserts to charcuterie, spice-heavy Asian dishes, aged cheeses and most crustaceans. Smashing stuff. And stuff for smashing!