Canelli is the historic capital of Moscato and of Italian sparkling wine. Around the town, in the Belbo valley between the Tanaro and the Bormida, the hills are covered with Moscato Bianco vineyards up to 500 metres above sea level. For years Canelli was a subzone of the Asti DOCG; in 2023 it became an independent DOCG, to set apart the Moscato of its hills. Vineyards cover about 100 hectares, with an output of 7,500 hectolitres.
The area
The appellation includes the whole of the municipalities of Calamandrana, Calosso, Canelli, Cassinasco, Coazzolo, Castiglione Tinella and Santo Stefano Belbo, and parts of Bubbio, Castagnole Lanze, Costigliole d'Asti, Loazzolo, Moasca, San Marzano Oliveto, Cossano Belbo, Neive, Neviglie and Mango, across the provinces of Asti and Cuneo. The vineyards lie between 165 and 500 metres, on steep hills of calcareous marl.
The wine
Canelli is made from 100% Moscato Bianco. It is a sweet, lightly sparkling, low-alcohol wine with the grape's typical aromas: sage, orange blossom, peach, apricot, honey and musk. There is also a Riserva, which ages for at least 30 months, 20 of them in bottle, and cannot be released before 1 April of the third year after the harvest: with time the aromas grow more complex, towards honey and candied fruit.
It is an end-of-meal wine: it goes with dry pastries, fruit tarts, Piedmontese hazelnut cake, fruit salad and delicate blue cheeses.
A history of innovators
Moscato in Canelli is already mentioned in the town Statutes of 1344, and later in the Annals of Alessandria. In the late nineteenth century the innovations of local growers paved the way for Carlo Gancia, who improved cellar techniques with controlled fermentation in bottle. Collaboration with Ettore Garino-Canina, Carlo Mensio and Federico Martinotti of the Royal Oenological Station of Asti led to refined harvesting and pressing. On the same hills, at Calosso, comes the red Calosso, and the whole area is home to Barbera d'Asti and to the great wines of Piedmont.
