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Santero Pinot-Chardonnay Spumante Brut NV
SparklingItalyNV
By Daniel Min · Tasted 2019-11-07 · Published 2026-09-09 · Updated 2026-09-09
At a glance
In one line
3.5/5 — higher than Vivino's 3.4 average · world avg price US$10 · On the very day I gave Dom Pérignon 2008 my first 5 stars, I opened a cheap Italian spumante and wrote 'Low grade Dom Pérignon.' 3.5 stars against a community 3.4.
No major critic scores · no critic listed on Vivino · Wine21 consumer rating 3.7 · featured in volume 15 of the manga 'The Drops of God'
Market note: 64% of its 7,337 Vivino ratings are exactly 3 stars — a wine that converges on 'fine' with neither love nor hate. A striking share of the reviews come from supermarkets and restaurants in Korea, Japan and China, which tells you where Santero's real market is. Brand recognition in Korea is high enough that Hyundai Department Store launched a separate '958 Santero' range in July 2025.
Father's note — Daniel Min
Original author of the notes“Low grade Dom perignon.”
What I learned today: a humble glass can become the ruler that measures the height of the grand glass beside it.
Tuesday, after ten, Minjae came in. Year-end stocktaking at the store, he said. He'd been counting boxes in the warehouse all day and rubbed his wrist. He sat in a daze for a while, then looked at the shelf and said, "That one. I counted a whole shelf of those today."
Master Seo opened that bottle. A glass for Minjae, a glass for me. Green apple, lemon, pear. The bubbles were soft and settled early. Light and clean. But holding the glass, I strangely felt as if there were an empty seat beside it.
An evening came and sat in that empty seat. When I was twenty-one, a Thursday evening, the day before the first day of winter. That day two flutes stood side by side on the table. The first one poured sent up bubbles without end; the second went quiet a little sooner. Father put his nose to each in turn, then pointed once at the front glass and once at the back one. He meant, compare. I said the back one felt easier. I don't know the bottle's name.
In the notebook, that night's second bottle has one short line: "Low grade Dom perignon." Three and a half stars. The first bottle's name was inside the sentence. The bottle was Santero Pinot-Chardonnay Brut. Minjae asked, "Is that a compliment or a dig?" and Master Seo said, "Both." I stuck a wine-name Post-it into the notebook. Maybe it was only with the two glasses side by side that Father measured how tall the first one stood.
Minjae emptied his glass and counted the empty bottle once on his finger. What I learned today: a humble glass can become the ruler that measures the height of the grand glass beside it.
What this wine is
Santero is a spumante specialist in Santo Stefano Belbo, the home village of Moscato d'Asti in the Langhe hills of southern Piedmont. It was founded in 1958 by the Santero brothers (four of them, as the story goes), and the '958' on the label is that founding year. A modern 18,000-square-metre plant went up in 1977, and today the company buys grapes from more than 300 local growers to make around 20 million bottles a year. This is not the Piedmont of Barolo and Barbaresco but the Piedmont of Asti Spumante — the Piedmont of sparkling wine at scale. It is still family-owned, run by the founders' descendants Gianfranco, Pierpaolo, Lorenza and Fabrizio.
The Pinot-Chardonnay Spumante Brut is the house's dry line: 50% Pinot Bianco and 50% Chardonnay, given its second fermentation in tank by the Charmat method, 11.5% alcohol. There is no vintage and little ageing; it is a wine to drink young and cold (6–8°C). The product sheet talks of yellow apple, starfruit, pineapple, butter and chalk; the community's keywords are overwhelmingly green apple and citrus. What makes it special in Korea is not quality but position. It has held the same spot in the Costco wine aisle for more than a decade, and after volume 15 of the manga 'The Drops of God' presented it as 'the everyday spumante to choose instead of Champagne', it became the supermarket sparkling of the nation.
What the world says
Critics do not review this wine. The numbers make up for it. 7,337 Vivino ratings, average 3.4 — and 4,669 of them, 64%, are exactly 3 stars. 27% are 4 or above, 10% are 2 or below. It is the most tightly bunched distribution of any wine in this magazine: no rapture, no disappointment, just a consensus of 'fine'. The keywords put citrus (242 mentions) and green apple, apple and pear (241) neck and neck at the top, followed by pineapple (48), honey (33) and yeast (24). Aged notes such as brioche or nuts barely register. Structure: fizziness 3.7/5, acidity 3.2, intensity 2.8.
The geography of the reviews is the interesting part. An Italian restaurant in Shanghai, a wine bar in Ginza, a ski trip in Japan, Lotte Department Store and Costco in Korea. The reviews draw a map of where Santero actually sells.
"Italian spumante brut. Mild fizz, green apple aroma, ginger-like minerality on the palate, a slight bitterness on the finish. Easy as a daily sparkling." — Vivino review, Jul 2023, 3.8 stars
"Lovely fresh bubbles with a fruity nose. Light, but the finish lasts long enough. Pleasantly citrus, not that sweet — reminds me of a picnic in early summer. Easy drinking and good value." — Vivino review, Mar 2018, 3.5 stars
"The bubbles seemed like a Champagne that had been open an hour — delicate but very weak. Green apple on the nose, yeast with faint citrus on the palate. Fine with an ordinary meal, but there are better alternatives even at this price." — Vivino review, Mar 2022, 3.6 stars
How I drank it
November 7, 2019, 3.5 stars. The note is four words: "Low grade Dom perignon."
I logged two wines that day: Dom Pérignon Brut 2008 at 5 stars and this Santero at 3.5. That Dom Pérignon is the first 5 in my entire log. Santero never appears again, and six days later, on November 13, Canti Prosecco got 4 and the Ruhlmann crémant rosé got 3.
My 3.5 is 0.1 above the community's 3.4 — one of the few bottles among my 733 ratings where I sit above the crowd. There is no critic score, and overseas retail is around US$15. I plan to drink it on its own, not beside a Dom Pérignon, and update the score.
Where this wine shows up
Appears as the everyday spumante that Chosuke Homma pours for Shizuku — a Pinot Noir/Chardonnay blend presented as a well-made bargain Italian sparkler, the one down-to-earth bottle in a volume otherwise full of grand Bordeaux.
Kami no Shizuku wine list — volume 15 · Comic Gourmet — Kami no Shizuku vol. 15 wine list
Artwork and stills are not reproduced for copyright reasons; scenes are summarised.
Vivino community data
NV vintage rating distribution (7337 ratings, average 3.4)
| 5★ | 299 (4%) | |
| 4★ | 1668 (23%) | |
| 3★ | 4669 (64%) | |
| 2★ | 606 (8%) | |
| 1★ | 95 (1%) |
Most-mentioned aromas
| Family | Mentions | Top keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Citrus | 242 | citrus 143 · lemon 65 · lime 17 · grapefruit 13 |
| Tree fruit | 241 | green apple 133 · apple 43 · pear 41 · peach 10 · apricot 6 |
| Tropical fruit | 48 | pineapple 41 · mango 4 |
| Honey & minerals | 45 | honey 33 · minerals 12 |
| Yeast & cream | 35 | yeast 24 · cheese 5 · cream 2 |
| Oak | 18 | butter 8 · vanilla 5 · oak 4 |
| Vegetal | 13 | grass 10 · gooseberry 2 |
Structure: Acidity 3.2/5 · Fizziness 3.7/5 · Intensity 2.8/5
Average by vintage (all vintages: 7337 ratings, average 3.4)
| Vintage | Average | Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| NV | 3.4 | 7337 |
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Same grapeLouis Roederer Cristal Rosé Vinothèque 2008
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Same grapeCharles Clément, Brut Rosé (NV)
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Same grapeDomaine Denis Bachelet, Gevrey-Chambertin 2003
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Same grapeArnaud Mortet, Gevrey-Chambertin 2017
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Same grapeVeuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label (Carte Jaune) NV
France · Champagne★★★★½More from Piedmont, Italy
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Bottles Father gave five stars
Only the wines Father scored a perfect 5
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Wines in manga, film and history
Bottles that show up in manga, film and history
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Wines you can buy at the supermarket
Wines actually bought at the supermarket
→Frequently asked questions
What kind of wine is Santero Pinot-Chardonnay Spumante?
A non-vintage dry sparkling from Santero in Piedmont, Italy (founded 1958, 20 million bottles a year). 50% Pinot Bianco and 50% Chardonnay, Charmat method, 11.5% alcohol. A light, crisp style of green apple, citrus, pear and pineapple; Vivino 3.4 (7,337 ratings). It has been Korea's best-known value sparkling at Costco and the supermarkets for over a decade.
How much does it cost?
Overseas retail is estimated at US$10–15; no Wine-Searcher listing could be confirmed. Besides the 750 ml there is a 375 ml half and a 1.5 L magnum.
What food does it go with?
Vivino suggests appetizers, snacks and aperitif. Dry and light, it works with chikin (Korean fried chicken) and anything fried, sushi and sashimi, holiday jeon (savoury pancakes), salads and cream soups. Serve at 6–8°C and drink within a year or two of purchase.
Can it stand in for Champagne?
It differs by about as much as the price does. Charmat method and short ageing mean almost no brioche or nutty notes, and the bubbles are softer and fade faster than Champagne's. What it does deliver is honest green-apple and citrus freshness — which is why 'The Drops of God' called it 'the everyday spumante to choose instead of Champagne'. Having drunk it the same day as Dom Pérignon and given it 3.5 stars, my view is that it is not a Champagne substitute but the wine for the evenings when there is no reason to open Champagne.
Links & sources
View on Vivino · Prices on Wine-Searcher
- Vivino — wine page and community data
- 958 Santero official site — company history
- Italian Wine Lover — Santero 958 profile (founding, volume, exports)
- Wine21 — Santero Pinot Chardonnay Spumante (grapes, alcohol)
Read next
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Tasted the same dayDom Pérignon Vintage 2008
France · Champagne★★★★★Similar styleTenimenti Ca' Bianca, Moscato d'Asti 2018
Italy · Piedmont★★★★☆Similar styleAntinori (Tenuta Montenisa), 'Marchese Antinori' Cuvée Royale Franciacorta NV
Italy · Lombardy★½☆☆☆Same grapeLouis Roederer Cristal Rosé Vinothèque 2008
France · Champagne★★★★★Same grapeRivers-Marie, Summa Vineyard Old Vines Pinot Noir 2009
United States · Sonoma★★★½☆Same grape