Moscato Vs. Moscato D’asti: the Crucial Facts Every Buyer Misses
By Maya Lin-Takahashi
The primary technical differentiator between styles lies inside the pressurized stainless steel tank (autoclave) during production. Winemakers do not produce Moscato d'Asti using traditional Champagne bottle-aging or standard white wine fermentations. Instead, they press whole clusters, immediately chill the unfermented must near freezing (around 0°C) to prevent spontaneous fermentation, and store it cold until orders arrive. This ensures hyper-fresh aromatics upon release.
When ready, the juice warms inside sealed pressure tanks. Fermentation occurs until the alcohol reaches roughly 5% ABV, at which point cellar masters drop the temperature back to freezing, arresting the yeast. This process captures natural dissolved carbon dioxide while leaving immense unfermented grape sugar behind. The table below outlines how this technique separates true d'Asti from both mass-market options and its fully sparkling cousin, Asti Spumante.
