From the atlas
Ca' de Lion
At A Glance
Producer: Ca' de Lion (Ghione family) Location: Canelli, Asti province, Piedmont Grapes: Pinot Nero, Chardonnay Style: Dry sparkling wine, brut Key bottles: Galaverna Spumante Brut, Alta Langa Millesimato Brut Founded: 1871
The Producer
Ca' de Lion is a sparkling wine house in Canelli, a town in the Asti province of Piedmont that sits at the heart of Italy's sparkling wine belt. The house was founded in 1871 by Luigi Ghione, who chose a name that reached back more than two centuries to a family ancestor, Leone Ghione, recorded in 1655. The name Ca' de Lion translates as House of the Lion, and Luigi built the estate under that ancestral name rather than his own.
Five generations of the Ghione family have worked the house since. The focus has remained on sparkling wine, with Pinot Nero and Chardonnay drawn from hillside parcels across the Langhe and Monferrato zones. Two bottles carry the range: the Galaverna Spumante Brut, a single-grape Charmat-method wine from Pinot Nero, and the Alta Langa Millesimato Brut, a vintage-dated classic-method blend made under the Alta Langa DOCG.
Place
Canelli sits in the Asti province of Piedmont, surrounded by the Langhe and Monferrato hills. These two zones share the same geological origins: hillside soils that are friable, free of rock, and soft underfoot. Ca' de Lion draws from parcels spread across 52 villages in the Asti, Alessandria, and Cuneo provinces, a wide sourcing area that spans much of the vine-growing land between the Langhe escarpments and the Po plain.
The Alta Langa DOCG, which covers the higher-elevation vineyards south of Alba, governs the Millesimato Brut. At altitude, cooler temperatures slow ripening and preserve the acid line that classic-method sparkling wine depends on. The Galaverna, made under the broader Piedmont denomination, comes from Pinot Nero grown on those same friable hillsides at lower elevation, where the fruit ripens to a richer, more immediately expressive character.
Soil And Site
The hillside soils of the Langhe and Monferrato share a common geological formation: fine, compacted sedimentary earth with an absence of rock and a notably friable texture. Vines planted on this loose, well-drained ground develop roots that push deep rather than wide, and the lack of surface stone allows water to drain freely after rain. In practical terms, this soil type favors Pinot Nero that is aromatic and fine-skinned rather than deeply tannic, and it supports the acid-retention that both brut sparkling styles depend on.
Story
Luigi Ghione founded the house in 1871, but the name he chose was already 216 years old. Leone Ghione had been recorded in 1655, and Luigi's decision to name his new estate Ca' de Lion was a deliberate act of familial continuity, not commercial positioning. The winery arrived at the name before it made its first wine.
From that foundation, the Ghione family built a sparkling-focused house in a town that was already shaping Piedmont's effervescent tradition. Over five generations, the family maintained its commitment to territorial grapes and traditional methods while adopting the two main production approaches the region recognizes: the Charmat method, which preserves fruit and freshness through a sealed-tank secondary fermentation, and the classic method, which develops depth and complexity through extended lees contact in the bottle. The Alta Langa DOCG, formally established in 2002 and built on the classic method as its governing requirement, gave Ca' de Lion a regulatory home for its more structured wine.
Vineyards And Cellar
The Galaverna Spumante Brut is made by the Martinotti method, known internationally as the Charmat method. Secondary fermentation takes place in sealed pressurized tanks rather than in the bottle, which preserves fresh fruit aromatics and produces fine, persistent bubbles without extended yeast contact. It is a wine with immediate freshness: red berry, red apple, and grapefruit on the nose, and a dry palate that stays lively rather than developing bready complexity.
The Alta Langa Millesimato Brut follows the classic method, with secondary fermentation and ageing on the lees inside the bottle. The Alta Langa DOCG requires a minimum of 30 months on the lees before disgorgement. Ca' de Lion's specific protocol is not published, but the DOCG floor ensures that the wine develops autolytic character, finer bubbles, and greater depth before release. The 70/30 blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay gives the wine a base of red fruit from the Pinot and structural acidity from the Chardonnay.
Wines
Ca' de Lion produces two sparkling wines, both brut, both made from Piedmontese Pinot Nero with Chardonnay joining in the Alta Langa blend.
The Galaverna Spumante Brut is 100% Pinot Nero, made by the Charmat method, with 0.9 g per 100ml of residual sugar. It is the fruit-forward, early-drinking wine in the range: aromatic and accessible, with red berry and grapefruit on the nose and a palate that moves through red apple, toasted bread, a hint of chocolate, hyacinth, blackcurrant, and winter apple before a clean, dry finish. The bubbles are fine and the effervescence lively.
The Alta Langa Millesimato Brut 2019 is a vintage-dated blend of 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay, made by the classic method under the Alta Langa DOCG. Residual sugar drops to 0.4 g per 100ml, placing it at the dry end of the brut range. The Chardonnay fraction adds a mineral, citrus-framed lift to the Pinot Noir base. Extended lees ageing gives the wine more depth and a denser mousse than the Galaverna. Alcohol sits at 12.5%.
The two bottles are organized by method and intent: the Galaverna is open and immediate; the Alta Langa Millesimato is the house's formal vintage statement.
In The Glass
The Galaverna opens with a nose of red berries, red apple, and grapefruit, clean and direct from the Charmat method's emphasis on primary fruit. In the mouth it is dry, with 0.9 g of residual sugar barely registering against the acidity. The palate moves through red apple and winter apple, then picks up toasted bread and a hint of chocolate from light autolytic development, with blackcurrant and hyacinth threading through the mid-palate. The finish is dry and refreshing, with grapefruit returning at the end.
The Alta Langa Millesimato Brut offers a different register. The longer lees ageing under the classic method suppresses the primary fruit and builds bready, mineral character in its place. The Chardonnay fraction gives the wine a citrus-edged acidity and a tighter mousse. At 0.4 g of residual sugar it is perceptibly drier than the Galaverna, and the finish holds longer, with toasty depth and a line of freshness from the Chardonnay's acid contribution.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with the Galaverna Spumante Brut. It is 100% Pinot Nero, made by the Charmat method in the Piedmontese tradition that values freshness and immediate fruit over complexity. The residual sugar is 0.9 g per 100ml, dry in every practical sense. On the nose it offers red berry and grapefruit; in the mouth red apple, a suggestion of toasted bread, blackcurrant, and winter apple. The bubbles are lively and the acidity keeps the wine from feeling heavy. It is built for a cold evening and does not need food to work, though it will hold its own against salumi or a light antipasto. The Galaverna shows what Ca' de Lion does with Pinot Nero at its most direct, and from there the Alta Langa Millesimato, with its longer ageing and greater depth, makes immediate sense as the next step.
Anecdote
The name came from a winter detail. When a bottle of Galaverna is pulled from the cellar and carried into a cold room, the glass frosts within seconds: a thin, white skin of ice crystals spreads across the surface, intricate and temporary, the way frost settles on a window or a fence post on a January morning. The Piedmontese dialect word for that frost is galaverna, and it was that image, a chilled bottle blooming with crystalline condensation, that gave the wine its name. It has nothing to do with the vineyard or the cellar or the grape. It is about the moment the bottle meets the room, and what happens to cold glass in winter air.
Final Word
Ca' de Lion is a Canelli sparkling house with a long family history and a focused range: two dry Pinot Nero wines, one made by the Charmat method for immediate freshness, one made by the classic method for depth and vintage character. The Galaverna is the more accessible of the two and the easier first bottle. The Alta Langa Millesimato is the house's formal argument for what Piedmontese sparkling wine can do with time on the lees.
Sources
- https://www.cadelionghione.it/en/
- https://www.cadelionghione.it/who-we-are/
- https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/7083801/
- https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/7750601/
- https://mousserande.se/galaverna-spumante-brut
- https://www.bereacasa.it/prodotto/ca-de-lion-galaverna-spumante-brut/
- https://www.cadelionghione.it/le-bollicine/