Asti sparkling wine, the grape harvest begins. Quality expected but the Russian market gone and now the US market at risk

A grape harvest that promises to be of excellent quality fails to allay the concerns of Italian wine producers about market scenarios. A short-circuit that applies to all Italian vignerons, but in particular to the producers of Asti Docg. The famous sweet sparkling wine from Piedmont has just these days begun harvesting operations on the over ten thousand hectares of vineyards of the denomination from which Asti Spumante and Moscato d'Asti are produced, the version with less bubbles, sweeter and less alcohol produced from the same variety: Moscato Bianco.

Currently,' they explain at the Consortium, 'the grapes are in a positive phytosanitary condition with good acidity as well as a good sugar and aromaticity profile. On the quantity front, the harvest will then have to take into account the reduction in yields for the 2025 harvest year, which have been reduced from 100 to 90 quintals per hectare, 5 of which will be used for storage. Measures that will lead to a reduction in total production proposed by the consortium itself as a containment measure "with the aim of safeguarding the denomination in an increasingly complex economic context, aggravated also by the confirmation of the 15% US tariffs on wine".

The point is that the Asti Consortium generates more than 90% of its turnover abroad with strong exposure to two markets: Russia for Asti Spumante and the United States for Moscato d'Asti. And while the Russian market has been compromised for some time now, first by the Russian-Ukrainian war as well as a tightening of tariffs introduced by Moscow as early as August 2023. And now with the new tariffs introduced by President Trump, ominous shadows are also looming over the other strategic market for Piedmontese bubbly: the United States.

'The US tariffs,' commented the President of the Asti Docg Consortium, Stefano Ricagno, 'risk weighing like a boulder on Asti Docg. Not only for sparkling wine, which is already suffering from the collapse of orders from Russia - its first market - with the conflict presenting its bill; but above all it will weigh on Moscato d'Asti, where the type is at home and represents 60% of its sales abroad in the USA. Added to this is the risk of substitution with local Moscato, which, although of lower quality, will become even more accessible in terms of price. A perfect storm for us, which we are also trying to stem through containment measures to preserve the balance between supply and demand. But at this point we need support from the institutions'. Asti Spumante and Moscato d'Asti are produced on approximately 10 thousand hectares of vineyards (10% of which are organically farmed) spread over 51 municipalities straddling the provinces of Alessandria, Asti and Cuneo. One thousand 13 companies are associated with the consortium.