11 Sep Please The Palate Wine of the Week: Azienda Agricola Caudrina di Romano Dogliotti 2018 La Galeisa Moscato d’Asti

Moscato d’Asti DOCG, the sparking wine made from the Moscato white grape and produced in the northwest Italy provinces of Asti, Alessandria and Cuneo, is a sweet wine that is low in alcohol and high in acidity. After a week in the region, I had the pleasure to taste many delicious Moscato d’Asti from different producers and would happily drink any of them. But one in particular stood out. It was the Azienda Agricola Caudrina di Romano Dogliotti 2018 La Galeisa Moscato d’Asti, the Please The Palate wine of the week. Located in Castiglione Tinella in the province of Cuneo, between Langhe and Monferrato Asti, Redento Dogliotti began growing Moscato grapes in the 1940s and sold them to the larger companies. In the 1970s, Redento’s son Romano Dogliotti decided to make wine from their own grapes. He was the first non-industrial producer in the region to begin making Moscato d’Asti. In 1989, Romano Dogliotti produced Moscato d’Asti La Galeisa. A single vineyard wine, the grapes are hand-harvested and then gently pressed. The grape juice is stored in refrigerated tanks until it is ready to be processed in an autoclave (pressurized tank). The bottle of 2018 La Galeisa that I enjoyed was fermented and bottled in March 2019 and is 5.5% alc. The 2018 is a clear, light straw yellow color with intense stone fruit, floral and sage aromatics. It is perfectly balanced between the sweetness and the acidity. The wine is full-bodied and round on the palate with a long, persistent minerally finish. I tasted the wine while visiting La Caudrina and enjoyed a delicious home-cooked meal prepared by Bruna Dogliotto, Romano’s wife. A warm, friendly family, Romano and Bruna run the winery with their three sons, Alessandro, Sergio and Marco. We enjoyed the La Galeisa at the end of the meal with a chocolate hazelnut cake, a typical pastry in Piemonte.