Paolo Saracco

"Il Maestro del Moscato" recently ennobled the Italian trade press Paolo Saracco. Overseas, the praise came from a completely different side, which nobody would have expected in the 2000s: the hip-hop stars discovered Mocato d'Asti. "When things get hard to swallow / we need a bottle of moscato" rapped Kendrick Lamar, Lil' Kim, Nelly or Drake. And Kanye West wrote "Saracco Moscato: It do taste better." While the entire industry suffered slumps, Paolo Saracco rose to become the superstar of Moscato d'Asti.

The history of the estate is closely linked to the development of Moscato d'Asti in the last century. Although Moscato has existed in this area of Piedmont since the 13th century, and there are many indications that the Moscato Bianco vine could have come from here, the true triumphal march only began in the reconstruction period after the Second World War. With Asti-Spumante and Vermouth of great producers like Martini, Cinzano or Gancia.

Paolo's grandfather, Luigi Saracco, succeeded around 1900 to extract the first seven hectares from his noble boss, who was not interested in viticulture. "Management buy-out" is what we would call it today. Luigi and subsequently his son Giovanni carefully cultivated the vineyards, carefully expanded them and delivered the grapes to these large wineries. Paolo studied oenology and took over the small company in 1987. He quickly realised that these large companies were on the decline with their standard mass products and that many small grape producers were giving up because of the ridiculous grape prices. In contrast to most of the others, he relied even more on Moscato, bought every well-located vineyard he could finance, introduced modern technology in the cellar and began bottling himself. Most people thought he was crazy. Today nobody laughs about the Maestro any more, because he became the leading company of the region.

Today Paolo Saracco owns about 50 hectares of vineyards in 19 plots around Castiglione Tinella, just a few hills west of Barbaresco. With foresight he also took over vineyards in eastern and northern orientation, which become more and more interesting in times of climate warming. They are quite steep hills, from about 300 to 550m above sea level. The soils are sandy loamy, marl, grey clay and streaked with shell limestone deposits. Ideal locations for the Moscato Bianco di Canelli, as the Muscat blanc or white Muscat in Piedmont is called.

In addition to the dominant main variety Moscato, Paolo Saracco also experiments with Riesling and Pinot Nero in the cooler locations, which produce astonishingly fine and spicy wines with a fine acid structure. In a newly acquired vineyard there were Barbera vines that were to give way to Moscato. In autumn, however, Paolo noticed the quality of these grapes and dared to experiment with pressing the first Barbera of the winery. It is called "Per Sbaglio", which could be translated as "accidentally" or "by mistake". Unfortunately there are only a few bottles. We are pleased to be able to offer you some of them.

Piedmontese people drink Moscato d'Asti not only as an aperitif or digestif, but also with pizza, cheese or dolci. Or in the wine bar, just like that. Paolo Saracco says with a smile: "But a glass is never enough." SUPERIORE.DE

"Sit back, put your hands in your lap, rest on your laurels? Not an issue for Paolo. Since he took over the traditional estate in 1986 in the third generation, he has been pushing it forward unceasingly. Again and again he added new vineyards to the vineyards - currently he cultivates 14 plots in different locations and altitudes - and adapted the cellar to the increasing production volume."Gambero Rosso

"Paolo Saracco is one of the most successful producers of Moscato d'Asti. The wines are impeccable and set the bar for what quality Moscato Bianco can achieve. Saracco owns 50 hectares of vines spread over Castiglione Tinella, Santo Stefano Belbo Castagnole Lanze and Calosso. The Pinot Nero is pretty phenomenal as well."Robert Parker