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If the names of Moscato and Asti and bottles adorned with white foil, remind you of raffle prizes and little else, you wouldn’t be in the minority. This is a deeply unfashionable style of wine and I can absolutely understand why there isn’t more sold in the UK. Up to a point. The general rubbish that’s sold is little more than fizzy grape juice, suitable only for teenage girls. With alcohol at between and 7 and 8%vol and very high sugar content, this doesn’t appear to be adults’ wine at all. The fizzy version of White Zin.
However, try to rein in your feelings of disgust and perhaps think of this not as real sparkling wine but as a specialist, intensely perfumed, aperitif or dessert wine. Most supermarkets sell a Moscato d’Asti for around £3.99 to £4.49. We tried examples from Sainsbury’s, Somerfield and Asda. These industrial products are little more than sparkling grape juice but if you’re happy with that they are perfectly pleasant to have in the fridge door for a minor family celebration. People will lick their lips and smile, the cork will have popped and nobody will have had to concentrate on the wine because it does absolutely nothing to interest. That’s not its job.
We tried three wines that did a little more that that and I would happily drink them again, but with careful timing. Our favourite wine was in a half bottle, with a normal wine cork, pleasant label and the feel of something artisanal and interesting. It would look absolutely at home at Stroud Farmers’ Market. Nivole is £5.49 from Oddbins. It had larger bubbles than others and a pretty smell which reminded Dianne of pannetone, but we had been talking about Italy non-stop in a way that girls can and so perhaps she was carried along with the whole romance of it. The taste was yeasty and interesting – fragrant and bewitching. Dianne was reminded of orange blossom. I felt it would be perfect with apple charlotte. It takes courage to serve Moscato at a dinner party, but I know from experience that it works well. It’s absolutely not suitable for rich, dark, intense puddings, but is perfect with anything light and fruity.
If you think that half a bottle is unlikely to be enough and if you’re rather stylish, Tempus Two, a Moscato from Australia is a great idea. The bottle is massively heavy and looks as if it holds about a litre, but the very dark glass and bronze, metal label do look rather gorgeous. The wine doesn’t have much smell but the flavour is more intense and, like the external presentation, is more impressive. Alex shook her head and said “That is lovely”. It has no resemblance at all to a raffle prize and the only pity is that it’s from Tesco.com and they want you to buy 6 bottles at a time, which I think will put people off. It works out at £7.78 for a bottle, which is a very reasonable price.
Waitrose sell Gancia Asti at £5.49, which seems to be one step up from the standard efforts. You still get the white foil and the cheap look, but the wine in fact tastes rather pleasant and is prettily fragrant.