Old Asti (Martini & Rossi)
 

My sister became diabetic and had to give up her favorite, Asti, but she
got some bottles a few years back for xmas from relatives who didn't know
her condition. Now I'm wondering if I should toss it or give it to someone.
What happens to Asti as it ages? If it's no longer good as a wine, can it
be used for cooking or killing snails? :P And where on the label do I find
the vintage? I can't deduce a date from the numbers printed on the neck
label.

(Fizzy drinks, including sodas, beer, and sparkling wines, don't appeal to
me.)

Old Asti (Martini & Rossi)
 

In article >,
ScratchMonkey > wrote:

> My sister became diabetic and had to give up her favorite, Asti, but she
> got some bottles a few years back for xmas from relatives who didn't know
> her condition. Now I'm wondering if I should toss it or give it to someone.
> What happens to Asti as it ages? If it's no longer good as a wine, can it
> be used for cooking or killing snails? :P And where on the label do I find
> the vintage? I can't deduce a date from the numbers printed on the neck
> label.
>
> (Fizzy drinks, including sodas, beer, and sparkling wines, don't appeal to
> me.)

Asti does not keep well. Try one, it won't hurt you just offend your
taste buds.

Old Asti (Martini & Rossi)
 

On Sep 9, 8:34*am, Lawrence Leichtman > wrote:
> In article >,
>
> *ScratchMonkey > wrote:
> > My sister became diabetic and had to give up her favorite, Asti, but she
> > got some bottles a few years back for xmas from relatives who didn't know
> > her condition. Now I'm wondering if I should toss it or give it to someone.
> > What happens to Asti as it ages? If it's no longer good as a wine, can it
> > be used for cooking or killing snails? :P And where on the label do I find
> > the vintage? I can't deduce a date from the numbers printed on the neck
> > label.
>
> > (Fizzy drinks, including sodas, beer, and sparkling wines, don't appeal to
> > me.)
>
> Asti does not keep well. Try one, it won't hurt you just offend your
> taste buds.

I wouldn't have high hopes, but might as well try. As Lawrence says,
it's won't hurt you.

Old Asti (Martini & Rossi)
 

On Wed, 9 Sep 2009 12:11:20 +0000 (UTC), ScratchMonkey
> wrote:

> My sister became diabetic and had to give up her favorite, Asti,


"Asti" is the name of a city in the Piemonte region of Italy. I assume
you mean the wine "Asti Spumante," which comes from Asti.


> but she
> got some bottles a few years back for xmas from relatives who didn't know
> her condition. Now I'm wondering if I should toss it or give it to someone.
> What happens to Asti as it ages?


The same thing as happens to all other wines. It gets better for a
while, then it gets worse. Although some wines continue to get better
for a lot of years, other wines peak extremely early; a wine like most
Beaujolais peaks in a matter of months rather than years.

Asti Spumante is another wine that peaks early and doesn't benefit
from being held for a while. You don't say anything about how old it
is, other than "a few years back," but I would never toss away any
wine without tasting it. If it's a few years old, it has probably
worsened, but if it's gotten worse because of age, it won't poison
you. It just won't taste as good.

So I would taste it first and decide whether to keep it, give it away,
or throw it away.


> If it's no longer good as a wine, can it
> be used for cooking or killing snails? :P


I don't know anything about killing snails, but if any wine doesn't
taste good, I wouldn't use it in cooking and ruin the taste of the
food.


> And where on the label do I find
> the vintage? I can't deduce a date from the numbers printed on the neck
> label.


Two points:

1. Where on the label a vintage appears depends on the particular
wine. There is no place where they all are, so nobody could answer a
question like that without knowing the specific wine.

2. Asti Spumante is very often a non-vintage wine. Personally, I don't
particularly like it and don't buy it often, so I'm not sure whether
*any* of it is bottled with a particular vintage. But if the vintage
on the bottle is not apparent, almost certainly, what you have is
non-vintage wine.



--
Ken Blake
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Old Asti (Martini & Rossi)
 

"Ken Blake" > skrev i melding
...
> ...; a wine like most
> Beaujolais peaks in a matter of months rather than years.
>
Eh, you are speaking of Beaujolais Nouveau, I presume?
Then the statement is true.

Most Beaujolais keeps 1-2 years. Serious Beaujolais keeps 10 years and more.

Anders

Old Asti (Martini & Rossi)
 

Ken Blake > wrote in
:

> "Asti" is the name of a city in the Piemonte region of Italy. I assume
> you mean the wine "Asti Spumante," which comes from Asti.

The bottle has "Asti" in large print, but a close reading of the label
reveals in tiny print "Spumante" to the left of a logo and "Martini" to the
right. Ah, marketing.

> I don't know anything about killing snails, but if any wine doesn't
> taste good, I wouldn't use it in cooking and ruin the taste of the
> food.

Just my surreal sense of humor there. I was obliquely referring to the
practice of using beer to kill snails. I figured if it had soured, it might
work in dishes where vinegar plus sweetening would be called for.

I like to throw vodka in some sauces, cabernet in others, and cheap merlot
in yet others. All from those little "split" bottles, because my
consumption is very low volume. Whatever I'm in the mood for. My tastes are
pretty vulgar, and I'm not much for telling when a wine "tastes good" by
itself. Almost all my alcohol consumption is via sauces, where the alcohol
has mostly flashed off from heating. (For my beverage of choice, find me in
alt.food.chocolate-milk.:P)

> 2. Asti Spumante is very often a non-vintage wine. Personally, I don't
> particularly like it and don't buy it often, so I'm not sure whether
> *any* of it is bottled with a particular vintage. But if the vintage
> on the bottle is not apparent, almost certainly, what you have is
> non-vintage wine.

Doesn't the US require dating all food products? So even if it's not
labeled as a "vintage" in the wine sense, it might still need some kind of
marking (possibly coded) to track when it was produced. These bottles have
a computer marking on the neck label that looks like such a lot number.

I'm guessing these were acquired in the 2002-2005 time frame.

At this point I'm inclined to just uncork one and try cooking with it. It's
just that 3 bottles would take me years to go through.