2008 La Spinetta Moscato d’Asti ‘Bricco Quaglia’, Piemonte, Italy (RMB 172)
Available from Watson’s, Contact Lily Li: LilyLi@asw.com.hk  www.watsonswine.com

La Spinetta is one of the top producers in Italy’s Piemonte region. As well as making great Barolo and Barbaresco, among other wines - for a stunning example from the 1997 vintage click here - La Spinetta also produces one of the region’s best Moscato d’Asti, a delightful sweet sparkling wine (in this case named after a hill-top vineyard - bricco - frequented by quails - quaglia).

Light green in colour with attractive, gentle bubbles, the nose has Moscato’s wonderful perfume of orange blossom and lime fruit. The palate is medium sweet with just enough acidity to balance and low alcohol (5.5% abv.), making it very drinkable!

Moscato d’Asti – which is typically of higher quality than generic ‘Asti’ – does not get much better than this! Try with dishes that contain chilli (or other acidic spices) or enjoy with Chinese fruits at the end of a banquet.

NV McGuigan Sparkling Shiraz Black Label, Australia (RMB 128)
Available from Gelipu Wines, Contact Danny Wu: ausdanny@gmail.com, 13911229053 www.ai9.com.cn

Sadly, there is not much Sparkling Shiraz in China. Most of it is consumed in Australia where it is extremely popular, particularly for special occasions. This is a fun and food-friendly wine ideal for Chinese New Year banquets.

Medium purple with an attractive, full mousse, the nose has pleasant black cherry and berry fruits with a touch of spice.

The palate has refreshing medium acidity and tannin is kept to a minimum for this style of wine. Very adaptable to many kinds of Chinese dishes. We just wish there was more Sparkling Shiraz available here.

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2006 Norton ‘Lo Tengo’ Torrontes, Mendoza, Argentina

Appearance: gold with orange tints.

Nose: distinctive Torrontes nose of lychee and mango, but not really the rose-petal or gingerbread quality of Gewurztraminer (nor the orange blossom aspect of Muscat). Torrontes is apparently related to Muscat, but it remains an Argentinian thing really.

Palate: palate was rich with strong tropical fruit, distinctive bitterness and even slightly salty in taste with low acidity, highish alcohol and some length. More pleasant on the nose than palate.

Conclusion: fascinating to taste, but we’re not sure we’d want to drink a whole bottle. A good deal at 88RMB, however (from ASC).

Rating: 15.5/20

2004 Moscato d’Asti, Castello del Poggio, Piemonte, Italy

Appearance: characteristic cheerful green colour with orange tints and some sparkle.

Nose: pleasant Moscato nose of highly aromatic grapes. It certainly has not deteriorated into that geranium smell you get on oxidized Moscato d’Asti.

Palate: good fruit, refreshing acidity and balanced medium-high residual sugar.

Conclusion: we were concerned that the bottle-age – which is desirable only in very high-quality Moscato d’Asti wines – might be a problem here, but the wine had held up very well. Good and well-priced for the Beijing market at 134RMB from Palette Vino.

Rating: 16.5/20

2006 Indis Shiraz Rosé, Great Southern, Western Australia

Appearance: purple-pink.

Nose: strong strawberry and red cherry fruit on the nose and even some spice (white pepper?).

Palate: decent palate showing the same strong red fruit qualities, nice acidity and not too high alcohol (weighs in at 12.5%).

Conclusion: A real find from the Beijing wine club Big 9. Indis wines are under the flag of Forest Hill, a really good Western Australian producer. Well-priced at 165RMB.

Rating: 17/20

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2005 Moscato d’Asti ‘La Caudrina’, Romano Dogliotti, Piemonte, Italy

Appearance: medium green gold, attractive fat bubbles.

Nose: beautiful Muscat fruit with grapey and perfumed orange aromas.

Palate: lovely fruit, more residual sugar here than on some examples, but this is matched by excellent acidity and very good length. Moscato d’Asti, although relatively sweet, should be refreshing and this is just that.

Conclusion: one of the top producers of Moscato d’Asti. Beautiful. Possibly a little young at present – other Moscato d’Asti we’ve tried in recent months have been about two years old or so. However, it’s not usually worth ageing this kind of wine because it loses its aromatic fruit and tends to smell of geraniums after a while. The La Caudrina should be compared with Dogliotti’s La Galeisa, another Moscato d’Asti. Would also be worth comparing both wines with the 2005 Moscato d’Asti Piasa Sanmaurizio, Forteta della Luja, possibly the greatest Moscato d’Asti we’ve had.

Rating: 18.5/20

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