# Ugo Lequio Moscato d’Asti (2024)

- **Producer:** Ugo Lequio
- **Colour:** white
- **Type:** sparkling
- **Grapes:** Moscato Bianco
- **Region:** Piemonte, Italy
- **Style:** Classic
- **Alcohol:** 5.0%
- **Average price:** €19
- **Contains sulphites:** Yes
- **When to drink:** Now
- **Serving temperature:** 6–8 °C
- **Aromas & flavours:** peach, apricot, blossom, rose

## About this wine

Ugo Lequio is a highly respected pioneer of modern Piedmontese winemaking who established his estate in 1981 in Neive. Operating as a true boutique 'garage winery,' Lequio is famous for running a single-man operation, personally executing every step of production from vineyard management to bottling. While widely revered for his traditional-style red wines from the Gallina Cru in Barbaresco, he applies the same meticulous standards to his Moscato d'Asti. The grapes for this wine are sourced from small, high-quality family-tended plots in Castiglione Tinella within the Langhe hills, ensuring exceptional raw material for this aromatic classic.

## Interesting facts

- Founder Ugo Lequio runs a single-man operation, personally handling every step from the vineyard to the finished bottle.
- The grapes are sourced from Castiglione Tinella, rather than Lequio's flagship red wine vineyards in Neive.
- The 2024 vintage was lauded as 'seductively good' (förföriskt gott) by the Swedish publication Vinlegender in 2025.

## Food pairing

The high residual sugar and low alcohol of Moscato d'Asti make it a natural partner for fruit-based desserts, where the wine's vibrant acidity cuts through sweetness. Surprisingly, it also excels with moderately spicy Southeast Asian dishes, as the sweetness and low alcohol soothe the palate against chili heat.

## Wine making process

This wine is crafted using the traditional Asti Method to preserve the intense primary aromatics of the Moscato grape. Immediately upon harvest, the grapes are gently pressed, and the resulting must is cold-clarified and stored at freezing temperatures to prevent spontaneous fermentation. Prior to bottling, batches of the must are transferred to pressurized stainless steel autoclaves. Selected yeasts initiate a partial fermentation, which is abruptly halted via severe chilling and filtration once the alcohol reaches approximately 5% ABV. This isobaric process naturally traps carbon dioxide to create a delicate fizz while leaving a high concentration of unfermented natural grape sugars.