Michele Chiarlo Nivole Moscato d’Asti DOCG 2008

Asti, Piedmont, Italy
$18-21 for 375ml

With the holidays, it’s bubble, bubble, bubble all the time.  I’ve had Sekt, Cava, Champagne, Sparkling Icewine and BC bubble – all in the past week alone!  I was going to write about a fine French Champagne for revelers to ring in 2010, but when I ran across this bottle in my cellar, I decided to write about a brunch bubble instead.

Why?  For one, most partiers have no idea what they’re drinking by the time the clock strikes midnight, so why waste a good bottle of champers?  And two – this wine is absolutely delicious!  No, really – this is oceans away from the fizzy-fruit loop Asti Spumante of your youth.  While both are crafted from the same grape variety (Muscat Blanc á Petits Grains), Moscato d’Asti is produced in much smaller quantities and with much higher regulations.

The result is a mid-sweet, slightly fizzy wine (frizzante) with orange blossom and ripe peach aromas and refreshing mandarin, peaches-and-cream and citrus notes on the palate.  And thanks to its low alcohol content (5.5%), Moscato d’Asti can easily be enjoyed early in the day. Enjoy with your New Year’s Day brunch – or perhaps as your Hair of the Dog remedy.

Rating:  (click here to see what our wine ratings mean)

**Trivia to impress your brunch mates: Frizzante [freet-TSAHN-teh] is an Italian term meaning “lightly sparkling”, and describes wines with light effervescence. Frizzante wines are made with less pressure than those labeled spumante.  Frizzante wines are equivalent to pétillant in France and spritzig in Germany.