Sparkling Wine at Cascina Pastori

On a beautiful sunny day in June, I drove through the hills of Piedmont and arrived at Cascina Pastori. Together with the owners, Andrea and Antonio Colombo and their dog Ken, we welcome our English friends for an interesting wine tasting of the present vintages of the wines of Colombo family, mainly Pinot Noir but also Chardonnay and Moscato. The five chefs from London started our tasting with the two sparkling wines, a pure Pinot Noir and a pure Chardonnay paired with some typical cold cuts and cheese of the region.

Cascina Pastori is a small boutique winery located in Bubbio, province of Asti, born from the love of the family Colombo, who decided to leave Milan to settle here. On these hills, the soil and climate although ideal for cultivating Chardonnay and Moscato , they are reserved mainly for the king of grapes, the Pinot Noir. Old maps of the area show were already in the region, brought from the French centuries ago.

They decided to produce two classic method sparkling wines, Silvy, which is produced with pure Pinot Noir and aged 60 months on the yeast and Andrè, a Blanc de Blancs made with Chardonnay, a younger 36 months. Silvy has a light onion rosè colour, an intense bready and raspberry aroma. The 60 months ageing gives this wine a nice complexity keeping its elegance. Andrè, shows an intense pineapple and white flowers aroma.