Gancia is an Italian wine-making company which produces a broad range of sparkling and still wines from the
Piedmont
it, Piemontese
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region.
History
The company was founded in 1850 in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
by Carlo Gancia.
Carlo Gancia is known as the father of Italian
sparkling wine
Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne regi ...
, producing the first sparkling wine made with the Classic Method (or Traditional Method) in Piedmont in 1850 on his return from France where he had studied the production techniques of
champagne
Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...
.
After 15 years of trials and small batches, he commercialized it on a large scale in 1865. This innovative wine is still produced today, a premium Asti DOCG, aged for at least 24 months.
Due to the complexity of the process Gancia is the only winery producing this product. The company is also known for its Gancia Aperitivo Originale. Like other Italian alcoholic beverages (such as
Fernet
Fernet () is an Italian type of amaro, a bitter, aromatic spirit. Fernet is made from a number of herbs and spices which vary according to the brand, but usually include myrrh, rhubarb, chamomile, cardamom, aloe, and especially saffron, with a ...
), the American Gancia is consumed massively in Argentina.
On the occasion of the 170th anniversary of its foundation, the company was honored by the Italian government with the issue of a
commemorative stamp
A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The ''subject'' of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike def ...
reproducing a 1922 advertising poster by
Leonetto Cappiello
Leonetto Cappiello (9 April 1875 – 2 February 1942) was an Italian and French poster art designer and painter, who mainly lived and worked in Paris. .
Products
Gancia produces
still
A still is an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic distillation apparatus, but on a much larger scale. Stills have been used ...
and sparkling wines made from grapes like
Brachetto
Brachetto is a red Italian wine grape variety grown predominantly in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy. At one time the grape was thought to be related to the French wine grape Braquet, but recent thought among ampelographers is that the t ...
,
Chardonnay
Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...
,
Pinot noir
Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...
,
Pinot grigio
Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the grap ...
and
Pinot bianco
Pinot blanc is a white wine grape. It is a point genetic mutation of Pinot noir. Pinot noir is genetically unstable and will occasionally experience a point mutation in which a vine bears all black fruit except for one cane which produces whit ...
. They also produce Rosso, Bianco and Extra Dry
vermouth
Vermouth (, ) is an aromatized fortified wine, flavoured with various botanicals (roots, barks, flowers, seeds, herbs, and spices) and sometimes colored. The modern versions of the beverage were first produced in the mid- to late 18th centur ...
.
See also
*
List of Italian companies
Italy is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe with the third largest nominal GDP in the Eurozone and the eighth largest in the world. As an advanced economy the country also has the sixth worldwide national wealth and it is ranked third fo ...
References
External links
*
Wineries of Italy
Food and drink companies established in 1850
Italian companies established in 1850
Vermouth
Canelli
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