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5218 Lawton Avenue
Oakland, CA 94114

510-654-9159

Oliver McCrum Wines has been importing small production Italian wine and distributing to fine retail and restaurant establishes throughout California since 1994. Over time, our portfolio of producers has steadily grown to over 45 producers from 15 different regions of Italy. We look for typical Italian wines with clarity and freshness, usually made from indigenous Italian grape varieties using clean, transparent winemaking techniques and no obvious use of oak. 

La Caudrina

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Small, family-owned, grower-producer
Bottled in small batches, to maintain freshness
Historic, seventh generation, producer within the region

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About La Caudrina:

A long time ago a professional wine buyer told me that it doesn’t matter which Moscato d’Asti you drink, ‘they’re all good.’ He was wrong; the producer should always be the first thing you think about with any wine. Producers grows the grapes and make the wine, their work is fundamental. Romano Dogliotti is the benchmark producer of Moscato d’Asti, and the only quality producer of Asti Spumante. He is now supported by his sons Alessandro, Marco, and Sergio, and his inimitable wife Bruna.

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The Wines:

MOSCATO D'ASTI

The creation of such a simple pleasure is in fact pretty technical winemaking. La Caudrina Moscato d'Asti is made by putting the juice of their ripe, estate-grown Moscato grapes in a special reinforced stainless-steel fermentation vessel, called an 'autoclave,' with yeast; the must ferments at low temperature until about half the natural sugar in it is consumed, then the wine is quickly filtered to stop the fermentation. This means that Moscato has only 5.5% alcohol by volume, and enough residual sweetness to remind you of a very ripe peach (but not nearly as much as you find in other classic dessert wines such as Sauternes). All of the carbon dioxide from the fermentation is retained and absorbed into the wine, making it naturally bubbly ('frizzante,' or half-sparkling).

There are two ways to drink Moscato d’Asti. Its bubbly sweetness makes it the perfect accompaniment to a number of fruit desserts, as well as the classic Torta di Nocciole hazelnut cake, a very typical dessert in Piedmont. I have found Moscato d’Asti perfect with the traditional Thanksgiving desserts. It is also an excellent cold glass of wine on a hot summer afternoon. Most dessert wines are relatively high in alcohol (Sauternes, for example, or Port), Moscato d’Asti is much less so.

ASTI SPUMANTE ‘LA SELVATICA’

La Selvatica is the Dogliotti family's Asti Spumante, made from a single vineyard near their winery. Asti Spumante is made very similarly to Moscato d'Asti, but the fermentation is taken further, so that the alcohol is slightly higher (7%), the residual sweetness is lower, and there are more bubbles (since more sugar is consumed). Some people drink this as an off-dry aperitif; I love it with cookies or by itself after dinner. (It is excellent with Thanksgiving desserts; and goes very well with pumpkin pie or apple pie.) Dangerously addictive, you have been warned.

The whimsical label is by the late artist and grappa producer Romano Levi, who was a friend of the Dogliotti family.

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more information:

Visit the La Caudrina website

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