Moscato d'Asti Wine

Moscato d’Asti is a lightly sweet sparkling wine produced in the town of Asti, in the Piedmont section of northern Italy. Moscato Bianco, the grape from which it is produced, is thought to have been growing in the region for many centuries. In the early 1600s, a jeweler from Milan named Giovan Battista Croce, on his riches from making royal jewelry, moved to Turin and bought his own vineyard around the towns of Montevecchio and Candia. In 1606, he published a book called Of the Excellence of Wines That Are Made on the Mountain of Turin and How to Make Them, which described the recipe for Moscato d’Asti: The stems have to first be removed from the grapes right before pressing, then the must (crushed grape juice prior to filtration) is fermented separate from the skins. Then the juice is repeatedly filtrated until it runs clean. Never mind that the prescribed method of filtering wine in those days was to use tightly wound cloth. Which often meant socks.