Does drinking Asti make you look naff? Experts say the much-maligned sweet wine is set for a comeback – and the elegant way to drink it

When Asti Spumante was first introduced to British consumers in the 1970s, it was all the rage.

Low in alcohol, fizzy and light, it was among the first wines to be sold in UK supermarkets – and became extremely popular. 

Jump forward a few decades and the picture is very different. Now dubbed ‘nasty Asti’, the sweet, fruity-flavoured sparkling wine is rarely consumed by wine-drinkers in the UK. Instead, it has been subject to snobbery, with some wine critics dubbing it the ‘poor man’s champagne’.

But according to some, the drink, produced in the northern Piemonte region of Italy using the Moscato Bianco grape, has been unfairly maligned among wine buffs around the world – and they’re hoping its fortunes can be reversed as a brand new rosé version is brought to market.

Richard Bampfield, Lidl’s master of wine with decades of experience in the industry, believes Asti is the perfect summer tipple – and has argued the ‘nasty Asti’ moniker is ‘ridiculous’.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Richard explained Asti was once one of the nation’s favourite wines.

‘When I first started in the wine business in the early 1980s, most wine in those days would have been sold in grocers and over the counter, because supermarkets barely existed,’ he said.

‘It was only with the arrival of supermarkets that wine became more popularised – and it really was relatively quick.’

He added: ‘Asti would have been one of those wine styles at the time. There would have been a far smaller selection then. All of the wines came from Europe, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, and probably Yugoslavia.

‘Asti was one of those original wines, it had been imported into the UK for years but probably in very small quantities – but supermarkets popularised it.’ 

For 20 years, Asti enjoyed sensational popularity within the UK drinks market. Richard draws attention to the dominance of Martini Rossi’s Asti DOCG, which was advertised on television and flew off supermarket shelves during the 1980s. 

‘In the 80s and 90s Asti was big business,’ he said. 

‘It was probably my generation, people in their 20s and 30s, suddenly discovering wine was quite a nice part of our lifestyle and we’d drink whatever thing was available.’ 

However, as the wine industry grew, so did demand and British consumers were soon presented with more options.

In particular, Richard said, UK wine drinkers demanded products from further afield. 

‘In the late 80s to early 90s, wines from Australia started becoming available and they were very good at promoting more accessibility.

‘[Australian producers] communicated about wine far better than the Europeans had been and suddenly, everyone wanted Australian wines. So the wines we’d previously been drinking were yesterday’s wines. Asti was lumped in with those,’ he explained.

Somewhere in the expansion of products, sweeter wines like Asti ended up in the bottom of the pile, considered low-brow and unsophisticated. 

‘My generation has reached a stage where we do associate a liking for dry wines with a more sophisticated palate. There’s no reason for that at all, no other country feels this way,’ he said.

‘In the main wine producing countries, sweet wines are treated with way more respect and equal appreciation as they are dry wines. It’s just here that sweet wines have a bad reputation. I don’t really know where it came from.’ 

Richard noted there is a misconception around the sweetness of its flavour as people assume sugar has been added to the drink. 

He explained: ‘It’s actually illegal to add sugar to wine. The sweetness in a wine like Asti is natural sweetness. 

‘Normally we ferment grapes to dryness, but if you stop the fermentation process at seven per cent [alcohol] then you’ve got natural grape sugars. And that’s how we make Asti.’

Asti, in particular, has developed a reputation for being a ‘downmarket’ option – earning the ‘nasty Asti’ nickname so catchy it’s difficult to shake, and cementing itself in the minds of many Gen X wine drinkers as the tipple that caused hangovers from hell (put down to the fact that its low alcohol content and sweet flavour means it’s easier to consume large quantities of the drink). 

Even outside of the UK, sales of Asti are sluggish. The Drinks Business reports global sales of Asti DOCG fell by nine per cent in 2025. But, according to Richard and other wine experts, there is hope for the sparkling wine to return to its former popularity.

‘These days, the wine business constantly complains that it’s struggling to attract younger customers, i.e. Gen Z, to wine. Asti’s perfect,’ he said.

While he accepted that not all younger wine drinkers will have sweet palates, he described Asti as the ‘perfect Segway’ into wine for people who have been brought up on sweet, soft drinks.

Its lower price point may also work in its favour, some have suggested. Ryan Manna, a NYC-based drinks expert, told Food & Wine magazine: ‘Its affordability is a plus, serving as an invitation for a restaurant to experiment, as well as a low-risk purchase for the consumer.’

It comes as UK supermarkets – including Lidl – bring newly-produced Asti rosé to their shelves for the first time, after the category was officially introduced this year by the Consorzio Asti DOCG.

The supermarket has partnered with Piemonte-based wine supplier Fratelli Martini to bring the Allini Asti Rosé to shelves. 

For Richard, the timing of the launch is perfect – as he recommends Asti a drink to be consumed with other sweet, fruity flavours.

‘It tastes fruity, it tastes grapey. It’s genuinely flavoursome wine,’ he said, adding he believes people should follow their own preferences when choosing wine to drink.

‘I’d love if people had more confidence in their own taste and didn’t think they should be hostages to what other people say they should or shouldn’t like.

‘With wine, it’s as if there are ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’, but wine is just like food. You should feel free to enjoy what you like without judgment from other people.’