SuppliedWine: Michele Chiarlo Nivole Moscato D’Asti (2014)
Found at: DeVine Wines (10111 104 Street)
Price: $15.99
As a university student, it’s nearly impossible to ever justify paying $16 for a 375ml bottle of booze. The rare occasion does open itself up, such as signing a lease for a new house the day before a big assignment is due. You want to celebrate, classily, without feeling compelled to get smashed. Enter: Michele Chiarlo Nivole Moscato D’Asti. It’s a mouthful, so you know it’s good wine.
The label is simple, with a watercolour sunset printed on a textured crème paper. The only English words on the back label are “hand picked” and “contains sulfites,” which is either an invitation or a warning. The foil at the top of the bottle is hard to take off, so unfortunately this wine requires a glass to drink out of.
After about 10 minutes of severely struggling with the corkscrew, I was able to open the bottle. Working hard for your wine is supposed to make it taste better, right?
Nivole is mildly carbonated, somewhere between regular white wine and champagne, once again working in your favour to make you feel like you’ve got some extra cheddar in the bank account. It hasn’t got much of a smell and the only real flavour is an overwhelming sweetness. Obviously, because it was so expensive, you’re going to brag to your friends about how delicious it was anyway.
Besides having a bit of carbonation, there isn’t anything keeping Nivole from being remarkably easy to chug. It’s light in flavour and comes in a small enough bottle that makes it a good candidate for a really fast and pretentious pre-game before hitting the bars or just for sitting down and cranking out assignments.
Sometimes you want to knock back a two-litre plastic bottle of unspecified “white wine.” For the days when you’d prefer to be a bit classier, the Italian wine-makers at Michele Chiarlo have got your back.
