Grignolino d’Asti DOC: light colour, strong character

Asti allows you to build a day between city and country. A visit to the squares and streets of the center gives historical depth to the path; the passage to the hills introduces another staircase, made of vineyards, farmhouses and inhabited nuclei. The name is better understood by leaving room to both dimensions: the place from which it takes its name and the soils in which the grapes are grown.

To continue north-east, Portacomaro and Scurzolengo offer stages in Monferrato Astigiano. The roads connecting the countries show an articulated agricultural landscape. To stop in a village and to start again towards the next one it allows to observe how the slopes change and how close the relationship between the inhabited center and the surrounding crops.

Grignolino belongs to the history of Piedmontese wines and preserves a personality that makes it immediately interesting in comparison with other red wines. Its character is not only measured by the intensity of color. The richness of vinaccioli, also recalled in the story of the vine, helps to understand the presence of tannins and the necessary care during winemaking.

This grape offers a good theme for a visit to the winery: the work of the producer must bring together aromatic delicacy and texture of the sip. The extraction, the maturation of grapes and the permanence of wine in the different containers are chosen that give shape to balance. Listening to how a winery faces this report makes tasting more concrete and invites you to recognize the work behind a bottle with an apparently simple color.

The Grignolino d’Asti profile puts together a soft ruby, fine scents and a dry taste. In the calyx, it first seeks the nuances of the fruit and then the sensation left by tannins. The passage between these two impressions is one of the most engaging parts of the taste: the finesse of the perfume prepares a sip that can have tension and persistence.

You can compare wines of different companies by choosing to follow a precise question: how is the fruit kept next to the tannic component? Some interpretations will appear more immediate, more relaxed. Take the time to return to the glass during a meal allows you to observe new nuances. The Grignolino is well known when the tasting proceeds for small returns, instead of stopping at the first impression.

Cold cuts, first dishes and meat preparations with measured taste offer interesting meetings with this red. A varied table allows to observe both freshness and tannins, while the fruit remains a thread to follow between one pairing and another. Lunch can become the natural conclusion of a day started in Asti and continued in the hills.

The comparison with the Grignolino del Monferrato Casalese opens a second journey dedicated to the same grape. The Barbera d’Asti, instead, allows to recognize another voice of the Astigian territory. They are complementary perspectives: on the one hand follow the vine through different denominations, on the other explore the variety of red cultivated in the hills already visited.

Before leaving Portacomaro, look at the country from the country stretch just crossed. Retrieving the profile of the village in the landscape helps to preserve a concrete reference, which you can associate with the names and scents encountered during your visit.