La Spinetta Bricco Quaglia Moscato d'Asti 2020
-
Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
A crisp, sparkling, delicately sweet bouquet followed by a remarkable fresh palate featuring brilliant peach and pear flavors.
Traditionally a dessert wine, but also perfect as an aperitif or as an afternoon refreshment with Sunday brunch.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Closed in a screw-cap bottle, the La Spinetta 2020 Moscato d'Asti Bricco Quaglia opens to fragrant aromas of honeysuckle and star jasmine, and the wine also shows some of the soapy intensity that plays into the inspiration for the grape's name, Moscato. One theory says the name comes from a derivative of Latin for "musky." Subtle tones of crushed mineral also appear on the softly sweet palate.
Other Vintages
2019-
Robert
Parker
Eventually though the family’s vision was even grander. In 1985 La Spinetta made its first red wine, Barbera Cà di Pian. After this many great reds followed: In 1989 the Rivettis dedicated their red blend Pin to their father. From 1995 to 1998 they started to make their first Barbaresco Gallina, Barbarescos Starderi, Barbera d'Alba Gallina, Barbaresco Valeirano, and the Barbera d'Asti Superiore. In 2000 the family began making a Barolo and built a state of the art cellar, Barolo Campè.
In 2001 LA SPINETTA expanded over the borders of Piedmont and acquired 65 hectares of vineyards in Tuscany, between Pisa and Volterra to make three different 100% Sangiovese wines, as Sangiovese to us, is the true ambassador of the Tuscan terrain.
While Muscat comes in a wide range of styles from dry to sweet, still to sparkling and even fortified, it's safe to say it is always alluringly aromatic and delightful. The two most important versions are the noble, Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, making wines of considerable quality and Muscat of Alexandria, thought to be a progeny of the former. Somm Secret—Pliny the Elder wrote in the 13th century of a sweet, perfumed grape variety so attractive to bees that he referred to it as uva apiana, or “grape of the bees.” Most likely, he was describing Muscat.
Recognized as the source of the best Barbera in all of Italy, Asti is a province (as well as major city) in Piedmont, consisting of a gentle, rolling landscape with vineyards, farmland and forests alternating throughout.
Barbera d’Asti can be made in an array of styles from relatively straightforward, fruity and ready for consumption early, to the more concentrated, oak aged version with an ability to cellar impressively for 10-15 years and beyond. Some of the very best sites for Barbera in Asti are concentrated in the subzone of Nizza Monferrato. Other red varieties grown here include Freisa, Grignolino and Dolcetto, which can be bottled varietally or blended into Barbera.
Historically consumers commonly associated the Asti region with Asti Spumante and Moscato d’Asti, both playful, aromatic, sparkling wines made from the Muscat grape. Asti Spumante is less sweet, fully fizzy and more alcoholic (yet still clocking in at only around 9% alcohol) while Moscato d’Asti is sweeter, gently sparkling (“frizzante”) and closer to 5 or 6% alcohol. Each is produced in stainless steel tanks to preserve the fresh and fruity flavors of the grape, often including peach, apricot, lychee and rose petal. Asti is also the spot for the pink-hued Brachetto d'Acqui, a slightly sparkling wine ready to charm with its raspberry and rose flavors and aromas.