Loazzolo: the sweet Moscato on the steepest vineyards

The area of the grapes coincides with the administrative territory of Loazzolo, in the province of Asti. This delimitation distinguishes wine from the names of Moscato that cover much wider areas. The reference to the municipality offers the visitor an understandable scale: the landscape of the name can be searched around the village, following the location of the vineyards.

The disciplinary requires slopes and sunny hills, with calcareous-marnose soils. Excludes flat, humid, shady and valley bottom sites. Geography thus enters directly into the productive conditions. Looking at the slope and the relationship between side and light makes tangible a rule that, read only on paper, would seem like a simple technical clause.

DOC recognition dates back to 1992. In disciplinary the connection with the place is particularly net: for the vineyards there is a minimum gradient of 20%, considering in the terraced soils the original profile of the hill. The work of wine is therefore carried out in a campaign where inclination and insolation count in the choice of plots.

The visit allows the scale of places to be combined with these constraints. The streets, the village and the rows make up a territory to be observed carefully, in which a single slope can occupy an important part of the corporate story. Here the name of the city on the label accompanies a close relationship between cultivation and landscape, recognizable even before tasting.

The Loazzolo is obtained entirely from Moscato bianco. The production includes surmaturation and drying of the grapes, with a minimum period of two years of ageing. The result belongs to sweet white wines: the concentration of fruit and time are part of its identity, along with the aromatic heritage of grapevine.

Taste it after a Canelli DOCG or next to one Strevi DOC helps to understand how only one grape can give different wines. They change zone, collection conditions and processing rules. For a combination, you can go towards dry pastries and preparations that leave room for the aromas of Moscato, dedicating to tasting a real stop.

The disciplinary admits the mention “latevendemmia”, linked to a late collection and climbing. This sequence makes it interesting to know how the producer selects bunches and arrange passages in vineyard. The final sweetness belongs to a path that begins on the slope: the grapes are followed beyond the ordinary maturation, then worked through the planned phases. The story of the collection completes that of waiting in the cellar and gives depth to the sip.

Build your day around Loazzolo, with a walk in the village and a visit to the company. Asking to observe the vineyard connects the story of the apparition to the matter from which: the bunches, the position on the slope and the choice of the collection. The small extension of the denomination makes it particularly significant to know the history of the individual cellar.

Bubbio offers a continuation in the territory of the Bormida valley; Canelli instead opens the theme of historical cellars and spumantization. The page Canelli and the hills of Moscato gather these threads. The Loazzolo remains a distinct stage: a wine that invites you to read in the slowness of tasting the time spent between vineyard, grapes and bottle.