Full English Breakfast paired with Moscato d’Asti

A wall of glass windows and sunlight revealed green hills covered by vineyards; the vines ready for harvest or recently picked clean.  Breakfast preparations were underway and the smell of eggs and bacon filled the room.  Bottles of Moscato d’Asti were opened and toasts made.  I was in the home of Paolo Demarie, a third-generation Italian winemaker in Piedmont, drinking wine made with grapes from his vineyards. Not a bad start to my trip.

After passing my WSET (Wine and Spirits Education Trust) wine exam last summer,  I connected with American expat Valerie, of Girls Gotta Drink, for some ideas about how to best experience Italy’s Piedmont wine country. Valerie suggested a visit to Demarie for a tour of the new, eco-friendly winery, and a food and wine pairing  Food and wine pairings always made more sense to me than just drinking for the sake of it,  especially in Italy, where wine is considered food.

Thanks to Valerie I had my first English breakfast in Italy, not England. However, we paired it Italian wine, Moscato D’ Asti. 

Are you wondering why we were eating an English breakfast in Italy? Valerie spent a lot of time in the UK prior to moving to Italy. It’s inevitable that when one lives in another country long enough,  cultures blend. In this case, it was a very tasty blend indeed!

 What Is A Full English breakfast?

A full English breakfast consists of homemade baked beans, sausage, bacon, eggs, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, and your choice of ketchup or brown sauce, which is very popular in England. If you’re vegetarian you can substitute the bacon and sausage for another vegetable like spinach, or hash browns. I have all the veggies, and the bacon and sausage.

Moscato is usually paired with desserts, not breakfast, but it makes perfect sense if you think of it in terms of what Americans call a Champagne Brunch. In this scenario, the Champagne is replaced by Moscato d’ Asti. If that doesn’t make sense to you, think sweet and savory. In my opinion, this breakfast is whyMoscato d’ Asti was made. If you are a tea drinker, check out this article in which I pair English tea with The Beatles. 

   Moscato is an Italian wine made from the muscat grape, which can be used to produce a variety of sparkling wines.  Moscato d’ Asti is a frizzante, because there is no second fermentation, like champagne or spumante, therefore the bubbles are gentle. This makes it sweeter but lower in alcohol content (5 % on average) – much better as a drink served for brunch or lunch. You can drink a lot of it without worrying about a headache or waking up in the wrong bed.

After breakfast, Paolo took us on a tour of the winery, which was bustling due to the harvest of Barbera grapes coming in from the vineyards.

Then, we were on to the tasting room for an extensive tasting of his award-winning Roero wines. The great benefit of wines from the Roero, compared to wines from the Langhe (a more famous area known for Barolo, which is made from the Nebbiolo grape), is that you can drink them very young. (In Barolo, there are many rules about how long wines should be aged before release.) No need to lay them aside for years on end. They are also a bit lighter and easier to drink than wines from the Langhe.

Demarie Wines

I tried the 2013 Roero Arneis DOCG, a lovely and fragrant white wine – liked it! Then, on to the Roero Riserva 2012 – 100% Nebbiolo and was a favorite with Decanter, and who am I to argue? I also tried the Barbaresco 2010, and the Bricetto DOCG. Not included in the tasting was the Roero Arneis DOCG Spumante Extra Brut. I love sparkling wines, and was super curious about this one, so I purchased a bottle to go. I later drank it with a nice pumpkin risotto and Branzino – however the Roero Arneis would have been great, too.

For more tasting notes, click here.

Getting to Piedmonte

If you want to experience  Moscato for Breakfast in Italy , you can fly into Milan’s Malpensa airport or Turin, where you can rent a car and drive to the wine country.

I did not rent a car because I spent my time in the wine country with guides. However, for a bit of additional exploring I did wish I had a car. You can also rent scooters if you feel adventurous. Now that I know the area a little, I think I might do that next time I visit.

To get there without a car I flew into Milan, then took the train to Turin, where I spent the night. From Turin I took the train to Asti. Check rates for hotels in Turin here including for the Best Western Piedmontese. 

Even if you don’t make it to Piedmont, you can try a nice Moscato d’Asti with your next brunch. A good one will only set you back about 15 USD. You have a chance to impress all your friends that you even know of such a thing and educate them at the same time. That’s what friends are for.

Cin Cin!

What do think? Have you tried Moscato d’ Asti?

Many thanks to Paolo DeMarie for the tour, tasting, and breakfast, and Valerie of Girls Gotta Drink for sharing her time and expertise with me.