Episode 215: Moscato d'Asti Is the Moment

This episode is sponsored by the consortium of Scotty Asti. Hello everybody, welcome to the Wine Enthusiasm Podcast. My name is Jack Porter. I'm a writer large here at Wine Enthusiasm and today we are talking about most Scotty Asti, the fun, vivacious, fruit-forward wine from Pimonte and we have Jacque Muffin-Bee, the director of the consortium, OSTVFCG, to tell us everything we don't know. Jacque Muffin-Bee is great to see you. It's been a while, you and I have in different lives been around each other in the wine world for a long time but I'm excited today to talk about most Scotty Asti with you. It's a historic wine, a wine that means a lot to me personally as one of the first wines I had my entire wine blithe but welcome, welcome to Wine Enthusiasm Podcast. Thank you, thank you, Draff, for having me, thank you Wine Enthusiasm. I'm glad to keep working with you through our, I think it's more around 20 years that we know in each other so I'm super glad to keep talking with you. You know it's interesting, I was reflecting back on like my experience with Scotty Asti and I wanted to give you like a nostalgia that really hit me so when I was 21 years old just freshly 21 because you know unlike here in Italy and 21's what we have to, when we get to drink in the States legally, a friend of mine who lived in a first study abroad in Italy, she came back and she's like, dude I got this whole new thing for us, you ready, meet me at Zilker Park, I've had the Nostan Texas at the time and she showed up with Pursuto which I'd never had before, a cantaloupe which I'd had before and a bottle of wine and in Texas at that time you couldn't have alcohol at the park so we were breaking, breaking a lot but she pulled the wine and I, it hit me like a garden and a peach orchard all at once and it was a light bulb brought on from my head being like what is this? One of the many things that steps, steps me up in the wine, you know, Is Muscollo D'Asti more than just a sweet wine? Yeah, as you said is an explosion in your mouth and in your brain as well because it's a completely new different style of wine that you expect from, from considering non-aromatic wines. Muscollo D'Asti is not only a sweet wine, it's not just a sweet wine, it's a wine that is balanced aromatic with a light sparkling that whereas witness it's not just the only component, it's one of the components because all these components in the end balance the outcome of the one that you're tasting, there's a vibrant acidity, we've light a fervor sense that always enaces freshness and the 5% usually that you find in Muscollo D'Asti great, 5% of alcohol makes the wine so airy, not heavy and it's always that I pull to have a glass of Muscollo D'Asti. I think maybe let's let's back up a little and let's let's situate ourselves so Aasti, I think where where are we? Who are you and and what is this this wine that we're talking about? How's it made? Well the wine actually is named Aasti because the the the appellation the Dio Cigee wine which is the highest level of quality wines in Italy is based on two styles of wine the sparkling which is Aasti's sparkling and the the fizzy the the semi-sparkling wine which is Muscollo D'Asti we're talking about mainly today about Muscollo D'Asti and this one is produced in an area in the north western of Italy in region Pietmont in three different provinces Aasti which is the central one and then you also have the provinces of Alessandria and Cunio and 51 different municipalities are involved in the production of Muscollo grapes which are the only allowed for the production of Aasti's sparkling and Muscollo D'Asti. And then so for the wine that we're talking about today Muscollo D'Asti like I know it as a fun fizzy fruity exuberant like energetic wine and it's it's fizzy as in we say here in Italy frizzante right and how does it get that fizzyness? The fizzyness comes from a specific way of producing this wine that actually was invented to in late 19th century by Federico Martino T, a local analogist that was helping wineries to produce a wine that a sparkling wine that didn't have to go through the two different moments of the classic method. Aasti was born as a sparkling wine in mid around the 1885 as a classic method by the end of that century there was the introduction of a new way of producing wine that was created by Federico Martino T, as it was working here as a consultant analogist and he helped producing wine with the second fermentation directly in the tank. That was allowing producers to to avoid all the losses of bottle that they were they were they were phasing at the beginning of production and that also allowed to control the fermentation and stop the fermentation at a specific moment where they wanted a specific level of sugar zero but must have all when they wanted to to have a lower alcohol percentage between five and six which is the level of alcohol in a muscatodasty nowadays as well. And then about what year did we see the first muscatodasty as we know it show up to the market? I think we we have to go back to the to the sixties around that time where winners were also trying to produce their own muscatodasty with a specific way of filtering wines that were using old bags we used to call them the Dutch bags I don't know if it sounds that good in in your in your in your language but they used to filter wine this this sparking wine more and more as long as they could remove all the sugar residual in order to stop the fermentation. And then so we we start to see it in the sixties and you know when I first had it was interesting I didn't have it as like a dessert wine I had it as a picnic wine and it was sweet and it was fun and it was fruity but like what was it originally used for because it's it's it's how it like it's got a few hundred grams per liter of sugar in a bottle correct exactly but it comes from from the agricultural tradition so that means that it became a wine that as seen by the Italian consumers mainly as a as a perfect match for the sers or sweet treats but the thing is that being born in the country was used by by people who were living in the country and they were perinit they probably didn't have enough money to buy the the cake on Sunday or maybe they could produce it at home but they used that muscatodasty to boost their day-to-day life and using it on a normal on their normal meals and it's the typical tradition it's a traditional match pairing here to to to use muscatodasty with the the so-called merenda cinoe at that moment that branch that you have why when you come back from come back home from working in the in the fields and you need to boost yourself then you they used to it butter bread butter and anchovies and a glass from muscatodasty that match that matches perfectly the the saltiness of the anchovies the butteriness of the butter the sweet tendency of the bread that's that's amazing so like for those out there that don't know merenda is the snack that you get like after school or after work so it's it's the it's the food in between dinner and now when I go have merenda I'm 100% gonna have anchovy burro and and pane the the bread butter and anchovy and a glass of muscatodasty that I've never heard that and I love that so you know in the states you know everybody for the most part thinks of muscatodasty as a sweet wine and how do you convince a sweet wine skeptic that muscatodasty can be for them and more than just a sweet one well it's quite easy because first of all you just have to to taste it and then you realize that one perfectly matches every kind of pairing that you have in your mind but at the same time you can we can also have some more technical insight saying that the sweetness of the one this wine is always balanced by the great acidity a great freshness that doesn't make the wine too heavy for your palate and the sweetness that you may feel in that in that glass usually matches perfectly food and and these she's there are modern there are spicy there are hot and you always search for something more with more residual sugar when you have for example to to to when you have a Chinese auto part in front of you or you have a Thai soup with that light spiciness that matches perfectly the sweetness of the muscatodasty so we will link that muscatodasty is a contemporary wine that can match hundreds of food dishes from over the world and that's like when I try to explain it to people it's just like the essence of some of the most beautiful white peaches you could ever bite into you know when you get that perfect peach and it's got so much acidity that it doesn't appear sweet at all but you get the frudience of the peach and then you get that hint of mint a little herb and then this rush of acidity And I, you know, every time I have a glass of muskata deasty, it's just this, it's like being in the best garden in a glass. And I think that's one of the most beautiful things about the wine. In this moment of consumer introspection, in the growing market for like no and low alcohol wine, does muskata deasty is like roughly 5% alcohol by volume set it up for success today? Absolutely, before although alcohol became a trend, muskata deasty was already there. We've always been there naturally because this one is not de-alcoholized. This wine has always been having the same level of alcohol because it comes from a tradition of why making that highlights the great characteristics of a aromatic grape called muskato. And this wine reflects perfectly the taste of the berry of this grape. That means that you have immediate connection to the berry, to the grapes that are from the fruit that you eat. So it's also in terms of representing the variety. We believe the muskato deasty is the ideal choice to understand how the muskato, the character of a muskato grape. It is really interesting. I'm glad that you brought that up because I think I've tried every grape on earth that makes wine, but I've tried a bunch of them in the vineyard and then in the glass. I feel the muskato deasty, or the muskato grape, is one of the few grapes that directly translates. When you eat that berry and then you have the wine a few months later, it's almost the saying, if you have nebbiolo as a grape and then you have nebbiolo as a wine, even like long and nebbiolo or something like that, there's similar characteristics, but they're pretty far apart. The second level of production, the verification and the refining in the bottle usually tend to change the character of a wine. With muskato deasty, it's completely different. The wine in the end reflects as you said perfectly. The grape that this wine is coming from. This is also thanks to the technical production that has been allowed from the Martino tea method because that really reflects perfectly, mirroreds perfectly, the character of the muskato grape. With that and the production method, I'm going to talk about climate change. Muskato deasty is one of the key characteristics is its acidity. That's what keeps everything balanced. How do producers adapt to this ever-changing climate to ensure the product remains as energetic and vibrant and fresh as we experience it today? It's a tough challenge because we all know that climate change is forcing our growers to always take care of their vineyards, but sustainability is the key, of course. As a consortium, we also help buying growers to understand the right moment of picking, for example, the muskato grapes. We have a large number of vineyards as a consortium. We check the maturation process and we help to understand when is the right moment of picking and we help buying growers to grow grapes in a specific way in order to maintain the freshness and to pick them at the right moment because always acidity is the key. The does also a third factor, he and the muskato grapes are muskato growing area and it's the aromatic maturation, which always makes things harder for vine growers to decide the right moment of picking because it doesn't mean that the right moment of maturation in terms of sugar is the exact moment also to have the right aromatic profiles. So it's always something that we are trying to support with our vine growers and it's something that really is important in order to showcase on the market always the right level of quality for muskato d'Asthi. And that brings us, I think, to again, muskato d'Asthi has one of the best quality to price ratios in my opinion for a bottle of wine. When you go to a wine shop or a restaurant in the United States, you can get the best versions of the wine at a price that's relatively affordable. We'd consumer wallet shrinking in our day and age and more and more people, you know, spending the money on experiences and various activities. Do you think there's a pairing or a specific dish that really shows the identity of muskato d'Asthi? Well, I don't know. We have mentioned a few pairings but I always, one surprisingly fitting pairing that I find always always interesting is pairing with some oysters. A glass of muskato d'Asthi with oysters. I know it's not something that on a daily basis you may afford but also having this good value wine doesn't mean that you don't have a luxury feel with pairing this wine with iron dishes. So I think it does always a try. I think that's, I mean, I can't wait to try that. I mean, oysters in muskato d'Asthi, I haven't done it. So next time I'm in Asthi with you, you and me let's check some oysters and dance in the scatode asthi. Sure. But in Pimante, so you gave us a traditional marinated dish. That's another Pimante Tese dish that you generally get with muskato d'Asthi. Well, for a sub-primante tradition, I would go, yeah, also within the tradition of pairing muskato d'Asthi with desserts, the depeat mode is on that cake. It's always a good to go because the azernaat is another excellence coming out for a piet mode. So it's always a winning match pairing this, this is an cupcake, piet mode, a zan cupcake with muskato d'Asthi. And of course, we have hundreds of different cheeses around. So it's always a perfect match, muskato d'Asthi and any kind of cheese that comes out from these beautiful region in terms of production. And you travel throughout the world to talk about muskato d'Asthi. And muskato d'Asthi is one of the best made in Italy exports globally in your experience. What is your most surprising food pairing you've had with muskato d'Asthi that just really blew you away? That's not Italian. Well, last year I was in New York at Zuma, having a lunch with some journalists and we all had a complete flight of Asian, Asian style food and camp. It's really hard to recall one specific dish that was matching perfectly, but I remember the whole lunch as one of my favorite moments in my career of wine speech. And then I know for me that one of the most interesting kind of like savory pairings and you alluded it to before, but like Thai, Vietnamese, Southeast Asian, cuisine, because I think muskato d'Asthi when I break it down in my head as a sommelier and as a journalist, there's the fruit component, which for me is normally peach apricot nectarine. Then there's an herbal component which could be mint or then also maybe belly for some something like sage, but definitely a green spectrum. And then you've got the just the vibrant electric acidity that balances that sweetness but again, like when you get a really, really good spicy chili on your palate and then you hit it, you get that herbaceousness, the fire from the chili and this could be in Mexican cuisine, it could be entied, it could be in colabrian cuisine. And then you get that splash of muskato d'Asthi, it just really sets everything right where your palate just feels at one. Then I think that's so special about food and wine pairing and I think people have to look outside beyond dessert with this wine. I totally agree. It's really hard for me to think of just one single dish to battery muskato d'Asthi, but I believe you may find many of them. I mean, I think it's a wine that just needs to be maybe experimented more with sommelier and chefs globally and just see what they can do. And just like we did 20, 30 years ago with Reasley, it started out as Schnitzel and Fethingen and now you go to any great high sushi Vietnamese restaurant and you'll see Reasley on the wine list there. Totally agree. We have a great chance in terms of interest from the market in terms of what makes us different from other aromatic wines. I wanted to circle back to affordability and how do you convince the market and the fruical consumers right now that this is the wine they need? Because in terms of positioning, you're making the price points. I mean, this is a it's an affordable wine as we were talking about is Ismuskato d'Asthi, the wine that fruical consumers need right now. So if you're if you want to get wine and you're you want to make sure you save save some money but still have that experience at home, right? You know, is is this the wine for those people? That's the it's the wine for those people because it matches many different moments of your day time. You don't have to see it just as a as a wine that commits your branch or your other for any other moments, but just especially in summer time, you just come out from work and you open up the bottle that you have in the fridge and it's so refreshing, so refilling your spirit that actually it's a good to go in any moment of your day. And at that price point, at that positioning on the market, you always have the feeling of drinking a good value product, coming from a specific area, a natural product, non-processed wine, natural in terms of sugar, in terms of carbon dioxide, nothing in the zedet, and in terms of your, you know, not only your stomach will appreciate it, but also your feeling, your general feeling, we'd appreciate all these characters. And do you think that quality price ratio also gives me a chance to go to the university, and the fact that it's low in alcohol in edge or an opportunity with younger wine consumers or non-wine consumers, who were trying to bring in to the community of drinking great wine? Yeah, sure. In both ways, I believe that it can have success both towards the generation that are entering the wine business, the wine drinking wine in this moment, because in terms of alcohol, we've all been, as Italians, we've all been introduced to wine through AST or Moscaradasti, as happened to you as well. And we believe that all the new generations can start appreciating wine from this unbelievable and unique style of a style of wine. I mean, I know my daughter takes sneaky snips of it every so often, and so you've already got a good entry point in the Porter household with my daughter. And being the first one, first, you never forget your first love, you know? So it will always remain in her mind and our mind that Moscaradasti has a specific place in our wine-dasting experience. And earlier today, we were talking about some innovations and some, you know, it's a historical wine region, but it's not resting on its laurels. Is there any news that you'd like to give to the world out there about what's going on in the AST, the OCD? Well, the AST, the OCD recently made a change in the code of production, allowing also the producers of the sparkling method to introduce a rosé style of sparkling AST because we also introduced the use of Braceto grapes, which are aromatic, which is an aromatic red variety, local red variety, just like Moscaradou as a great history here in Piedmont. It's always been together with Moscaradou, one of the traditional grapes always used in local productions. And we wanted to highlight this aromatic profile that makes this wine different from all the others. And we believe that also that with this new style of wine, we can be even more interesting for new generations for consumers, for those who are looking for something low in alcohol, but really high in pleasure. So we believe that we are giving an answer to the market that is looking for something new, something, although there are many sparkling rosé wines, we believe that being our aromatic, being made based on Braceto and Moscaradou, this wine is going to have success on the market, on many markets all over the world. Well, I'm excited for that, and I can't thank you enough for your time today, Jacomo. I think talking about a historic, legendary wine that really speaks to modern times, it's really special. I really appreciate your time today. Thank you. I appreciate it as usual. I look forward to my next glass of Moscaradou di Astu with you. I can look forward as well. Thank you, Dr. F. Thank you so much. Hope to meet you soon. Thank you. This project is part of the promotional program Astu D.O.C.G. Experience, campaign financed under regulation EU #2021/2115 and in accordance with the Ministry of the Agroetura Italiano. With sweet or spicy, the Scotto di Astu is more than it seems. Have you tried any out of the box in the Scotto di Astu parents? Let us know. You can email us your comments and questions at [email protected]. Remember, you can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you listen to your favorite shows. You can also go to www.wineinfusiness.com/podcast for more episodes and transcripts. This is Jeff Porter. Thanks for listening. [Music]