Spirit Type: Red Aperitif Liqueur

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Producer: Contratto

Raw Materials: Grape-based distillate sourced from estate-grown fruit infused with 28 different herbs, spices, roots and seeds, including aloe, angelica, wormwood, safflower, cinchona, bitter orange, sweet orange, lemon, mandarin, hawthorn, cloves, cardamom, licorice, juniper, mint, rhubarb, sage, nettle and ginger. 

Where: Piedmont

Country: Italy

Taste: Classic orange-driven sweet citrus flavours with touches of balancing bitterness and spicy depth. Distilled from the noble Piedmontese grape and packed with orange peel, orange blossom and rhubarb on the nose, Contratto Aperitif is one of the finest of its kind on the market today. White stone fruit, marzipan and a soft bitterness comes through on the palate. The gentian flavor is noticeable but delicate, masterfully balanced with the sweetness of this aperitivo. 

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Additional Info: 

About the product: 

Aperitif produced by Contratto in Piedmont, Italy. Grape-based distillate sourced from estate-grown fruit. Extracts of 28 different herbs, spices, roots and seeds, including aloe, angelica, wormwood, safflower, cinchona, bitter orange, sweet orange, lemon, mandarin, hawthorn, cloves, cardamom, licorice, juniper, mint, rhubarb, sage, nettle and ginger. Botanicals are crushed through a hammer mill and cold-extracted with hydro-alcoholic solution over 35 days. Sweetened with beet sugar and colored with carrot and beetroot extracts. Filtered to remove all solids and rested in stainless steel tank for 40 days. Double Gold medalist at the 2023 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. 13.5% ABV

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About the Producer: 

Around 1910 Contratto began to export their wines. Contratto had great success in foreign markets and the winery became synonymous with prestige and quality in the world of sparkling wines, so much so that the winery became the official wine supplier for the Vatican, the Belgian royal house, and in 1913 the royal family Savoy. In 1919 Contratto produced its first vintage Italian sparkling, an innovative choice on the part of the Piedmontese sparkling house which aimed to highlight the characteristics of a single vintage. In 1920 Contratto began to produce vermouths and liqueurs. The processing techniques and recipes have remained almost unchanged, these original recipes transport you back to the 1920s. The Contratto family remained at the helm of the company until 1993 when the Bocchino family, who owned a distillery of the same name, took the reigns of Contratto. The Bocchino family set forth the work of restoring the Wine Cathedral, the internal courtyard, and tasting room. Giorgio Rivetti, a huge fan of Champagne, began collaborating with the Bocchino family, and immediately realized the great potential of the historic sparkling house. Shortly after, in 2011, the Rivetti family decide to take an important step and purchased the winery. The philosophy and the passion that made La Spinetta famous are immediately reflected in this new project. A fundamental decision was immediately taken: the acquisition of several hectares of land, some under vine, close to the little town of Bossolaso. Situated in the highest part of the Langhe, the Bossolasco zone lends itself perfectly to the cultivation of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, grapes which are used in the production of the Alta Langa DOCG. This marks the official entry of Contratto in the Consortium of Alta Lange and Contratto becomes the reference point for the entire denomination. The Rivetti family philosophy is to look to the future without ever losing sight of where you’ve been. To properly represent and pay tribute to Contratto, a winery that has written the history of Italian sparkling wine, the family decided in 2007 to use as their labels the famous advertising by Cappiello. Cappiello, one of the fathers of modern Italian poster design, had created a Contratto publicity campaign that ran from 1922 to 1925. In 2014, an important recognition was awarded to the Contratto winery: the historic Wine Cathedral was officially declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The splendid Cathedral (cellars) was entirely excavated by hand. The cellars extend about 5,000 square meters and have a maximum depth of around 38 meters. The cellar is made up of marl sediment rich in calcareous tuff which helps maintain a constant temperature of 13 degrees C.