Another evening trip with landscape story movers was to visit the tiny town with a Contessa. Castiglione Tinella. She had a colorful and interesting history and and slightly sad end as she descended into dementia. She is linked to this area by marriage and family. Cavour and her husband an local Count.
The town is tiny and perfect for relaxing and really taking in the vines around. The rich history has granted the very hills their own poems. We tasted moscato which is a very tricky operation because the entire process is avoiding fermentation. Or should I say allowing only a little hence the sweet and perfumed aroma of the finished product.
Once upon an time is was seriously difficult to create moscato the wine. The grapes were collected usually in the morning (due to the heat which is a growing problem todya) and then it was sold to make the base for Vermouth an wine fortified with herbs and used as a cocktail or aperitif base drink. With temperature controlled steel tanks and microfiltration it is easier today to create the light clear nectar.
So today many wineries in the area, and there are many it is one of the most densely planted areas in the world, make Moscato. Once harvested the juice is stored at 2 degrees to ensure no fermentation take place. During the year one tank at a time the juice from different hills is blended and then place in a warmer tank for fermentation to proceed under pressure controlled conditions. The pressure from the carbon dioxide creates the light fizz we find in mosato and the yeast transforms just over half the sugar into alcolohl then the process is stopped.
At this point we tasted the mix, it was cloudy light fruity sweet. The next step is clarification, to give the clear light colour we know and love.
We rounded the evening off by visiting a historic home now mini museum of collected object which while they are not prestigious they are nonetheless very interesting window on daily lives we once led.
Verdmont Bed & Breakfast; Family apartments 