La Spinetta Bricco Quaglia Moscato d’Asti DOCG 5.5%

Description

La Spinetta Bricco Quaglia Moscato d’Asti DOCG is a lightly sparkling, sweet Moscato produced in the Piedmont region.

The origins of La Spinetta lay in the early 1960s when Giuseppe Rivetti and his wife Lidia bought vineyards in the heart of Moscato d’Asti and began to make wine. Giuseppe established the winery at Castagnole Lanze in 1977 and initially the company focussed on two Moscato d’Asti wines:  Bricca Quaglia and Biancospino. When La Spinetta Bricco Quaglia Moscato d’Asti was released in 1978 it was the first ever single vineyard Moscati d’Asti. In fact, the estate did not release a red wine until 1985 when the Barbera d’Asti Ca’ di Pian was released. Today the company is headed by Giuseppe’s sons and it is fair to say that La Spinetta is one of Piedmont’s most iconic wineries and producers of Barbaresco. In addition to their vineyards in Piedmont, the company also has 65 hectares of vineyards in Tuscany.

The La Spinetta Bricco Quaglia vineyard is located at 300m above sea level with a southern exposure and covers an area of some 20 hectares. The vineyard is managed sustainably and no herbicides or pesticides are used. Some grapes are also sourced from other vineyards within the Mango municipality. The vineyards have an average vine age of 40 years old and the soils are calcareous and sandy. 

100% Moscato (Muscat) grapes are harvested at full ripeness, crushed and undergo a long cool fermentation for three months in pressurised stainless steel tanks. Unlike Prosecco or Champagne, it is only fermented once. The build-up of carbon dioxide during fermentation and subsequent bottling under pressure produces a gentle sparkle. Fermentation is stopped by chilling the must which leaves a good amount of natural sweetness in the wine. This also keeps alcohol levels low and, by law, Moscato d’Asti cannot be over 5.5% abv. The wine is filtered before bottling to remove any yeast cells otherwise the wine would re-ferment. Average production is around 110,000 bottles per vintage.

If you ever wondered what Bricco Quaglia means, Bricco means “top of the hill” and Quaglia means “Quail”, hence the Quail on the label.

La Spinetta Bricco Quaglia Moscato d’Asti DOCG is Certified organic wine and suitable for vegetarians and vegans.