Slightly Sweet and Effervescent – Very Delicious – Brachetto d’Acqui DOCG Italy

This post originally appeared in Wine Tourist Magazine It is red, slightly sweet and slightly effervescent, that is how I would describe Brachetto d’Acqui DOCG, a wine I fell in love with when I was living in Piedmont, Italy several decades ago. I was not a wine drinker at the time and did not have the foresight to know that I would be a student of wine and a professional in the business these many years later. But, this was the wine that started it for me. I was living in Vercelli, a town of 50,000 in Piedmont in northern Italy. The rice capital of Italy, Vercelli is less than an hour drive to famous wine areas such as Asti, Barolo and Barbaresco. Every afternoon during aperitivi time, I would head to a local bar to meet my new Italian friends. I did not speak Italian at the time and would let them order what they wanted for me. And every day I was presented with a refreshing glass of this slightly sweet, slightly sparkling red wine, Brachetto d’Acqui. WHAT IS BRACHETTO?