2024 Borgo Maragliano La Caliera Moscato d'Asti DOCG Piemonte

Borgo Maragliano has been family-owned in Loazzolo, in the Langa Astigiana, since 1850 — five generations of Giovanni Galliano's line farming the steep, chalky hillsides of Alta Langa. In the 1970s, the estate became one of the first in Piemonte to specialize in classic-method sparkling wine. Today, Carlo Galliano — oenology degree from Alba in hand — runs winemaking across 41 hectares, with his wife Silvia and two of their three sons.

Moscato d'Asti is one of those wines that separates the people who think they don't like sweet wine from the people who've had the right one. The real stuff — DOCG, low alcohol, gently sparkling — is a different species from the syrupy grocery-store bottles that poisoned the category. This is high-altitude Moscato from Piemonte's best hillsides: chalky soils, cool nights, and fruit picked at peak ripeness.

La Caliera is the estate's straight-ahead Moscato d'Asti bottling. The grapes are soft-pressed, chilled, and fermented in pressurized tanks until the wine hits 5.5% alcohol — then fermentation is halted at peak ripeness to preserve the natural sweetness and aromatics. It's bottled in early November to capture optimal freshness. The goal: bright, floral, intensely aromatic Moscato that finishes clean, not cloying.

In the glass: intense scents of flowers and ripe fruit — peach, orange blossom, honey, candied fruit, acacia blossom, delicate musk, and an intriguing violet perfume rarely found in Moscato. The palate strikes a perfect harmony between sweetness and acidity, with fine, delicate bubbles that add liveliness. $22 for six bottles of estate DOCG Moscato from a fifth-generation family producer.