About Contratto

Giuseppe Contratto founded Contratto in 1867. This beautiful Estate remained in the family’s hands for 126 years until 1993, when Carlo Bocchino purchased the property.  He invested in substantial renovations to the historical cellars, and in 2011, Giorgio Rivetti and the team of La Spinetta were able to take ownership of this understated jewel with the goal of completing the return of Contratto to its former glory. The winery has a long, distinguished history as the oldest producer of sparkling wine in Italy. In fact, the 1919 Contratto Extra Brut was the country’s first vintage “Metodo Classico” sparkling wine ever made!

At the turn of the 20th century, Contratto’s wines were one of the premier sources of sparkling wine in Royal houses around the world. Contratto was the personal supplier to the Vatican, as well as the Italian royal family. The historical Estate has breathtaking cellars carved into the tuff limestone hillside that protects the small town of Canelli. These cathedral cellars are among the finest of their kind, excavated at a depth of 32 meters. The cellars maintain a constant annual temperature of 13°C and sufficient natural humidity, an ideal environment for bottle fermentation and maturation that helps Contratto to craft wines of purity and complexity. Over the course of its 150-year history of winemaking, Contratto has produced Moscato, Barolo, Spumante Metodo Classico, Vermouths, Tonics, Bitters, Gin, Whiskey and more!

Today, a UNESCO World Heritage site, Contratto produces only traditional method sparkling wine and selected spirits under the watchful eye of Giorgio Rivetti, and his talented son, Andrea. While La Spinetta has owned the Estate since spring 2011, Giorgio and Andrea have been secretly making the Metodo Classico wines since 2007 with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes from Oltrepo Pavese. Thus, the inaugural releases of Contratto Metodo Classico were all the products of this talented father-son team.

In 2014, the Estate invested in land and planted new vineyards in Alta Langa, near the town of Bossolasco — 45 acres of southern exposure hillside with Pinot Noir at 720 m above sea level. Added to the existing 33 acres of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vineyards around Canelli and Loazzolo, Contratto now produces sparkling wines from 100% estate-grown fruit from certified organic vineyards, under the appellation Alta Langa DOCG.

Like Champagne, the Alta Langa DOCG must focus on the same primary grapes (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay) and the wines must be made with the same method (referred to as Metodo Classico in Italy). Beyond that, there are some significant differences, and the rules for Alta Langa DOCG are surprisingly much stricter than Champagne.

• The Alta Langa DOCG zone is much higher elevation than Champagne, and Contratto’s vineyards sit at the zone’s highest elevation point
• Alta Langa DOCG wines must be bottled as vintage-designated only. The wines are required to be aged on the lees, in the bottle (en tirage) for at least 30 months, whereas Champagne only requires a minimum of 12 months on lees.