Malvasia di Casorzo d'Asti is a DOC of the Piedmont wine region in north-western Italy. It specializes in red and rose wines made in dry, sparkling, and sweet, dried-grape passito styles. All of these are made from Malvasia grapes, in this case the Malvasia di Casorzo variety. (While Freisa, Grignolino and Barbera are also permitted as minority components, Malvasia di Casorzo grapes must make up at least 85% of the final blend.)
There are various Asti-specific DOCs (Moscato d'Asti and Barbera d'Asti are arguably the finest and best known), each with slightly different catchment areas. In the case of Malvasia di Casorzo d'Asti, one might assume from the second part of the DOC title that the Malvasia grapes which make these wines are grown within the Asti province of central Piedmont. But this is only partly true, as two-thirds of the communes covered by the DOC are in fact within Asti's neighboring province, Alessandria. The production zone straddles the border between the two provinces just north-east of Asti town and south-west of Casale Monferrato.
A typical Malvasia di Casorzo wine is ruby hued, gently aromatic and mid bodied. The precise character depends on whether the wine in question is a sparkling spumante or a passito variety.
