Italy · Langhe

Cuvage

Piedmont sparkling house founded in 2011 in Acqui Terme, working Metodo Classico and Charmat methods from Nebbiolo, Moscato Bianco, Brachetto, and Cortese.

The producer

Cuvage makes sparkling wine and nothing else. Founded in 2011 in Acqui Terme, a town in the province of Alessandria in southeast Piedmont, the house runs two parallel production routes with deliberate separation: traditional method wines from Nebbiolo, Pinot Nero, and Chardonnay, and Charmat method wines from Moscato Bianco, Cortese, and Brachetto. Owned by Riboli Family Wines and operating within the Argea corporate group, Cuvage is a purposefully built modern sparkling house on historically charged ground.

The choice to include Nebbiolo in traditional method sparkling is Cuvage's clearest editorial argument. Nebbiolo is the grape behind Barolo and Barbaresco, one of Italy's most demanding red varieties, and using it as a base for secondary bottle fermentation is a local Piedmontese decision rather than a regional convention. Alta Langa, the recognised appellation for Piedmontese traditional method sparkling, builds its wines primarily on Pinot Nero and Chardonnay. Acqui Terme, where Italian sparkling wine production is recorded to have begun in 1895, gives Cuvage a specific regional address. The house arrived 116 years after that first bottle, but it chose the same town and built its range around the same grapes.

Known for

Metodo Classico and Charmat sparkling wines from Acqui Terme, Piedmont, with Nebbiolo in the traditional-method range.

Notable facts

The story

The Town That Started Italian Sparkling Wine

In 1895, a winemaker in Acqui Terme put bubbles into a bottle using a method borrowed from France and sold it as Italian sparkling wine. The town already had thermal baths the Romans had used and a market square that had been trading for centuries, but the sparkling wine was new. It became the regional profile: Brachetto d'Acqui, Moscato, and the particular argument that southeast Piedmont had its own claims on effervescence, separate from the Langhe to the north and from Lombardy's Franciacorta to the east. When Cuvage was founded in 2011, 116 years after that first bottle, the house set up in the same town and built its range around the same grapes. The 1895 origin belongs to the place, not to the producer, but choosing Acqui Terme in 2011 was still a decision: not Asti, not Alba, not Alta Langa, but the town where the regional sparkling wine story begins.

The Town That Started Italian Sparkling Wine

In 1895, a winemaker in Acqui Terme put bubbles into a bottle using a method borrowed from France and sold it as Italian sparkling wine. The town already had thermal baths the Romans had used and a market square that had been trading for centuries, but the sparkling wine was new. It became the regional profile: Brachetto d'Acqui, Moscato, and the particular argument that southeast Piedmont had its own claims on effervescence, separate from the Langhe to the north and from Lombardy's Franciacorta to the east. When Cuvage was founded in 2011, 116 years after that first bottle, the house set up in the same town and built its range around the same grapes. The 1895 origin belongs to the place, not to the producer, but choosing Acqui Terme in 2011 was still a decision: not Asti, not Alba, not Alta Langa, but the town where the regional sparkling wine story begins.

From the atlas

Cuvage

At A Glance

The Producer

Cuvage makes sparkling wine and nothing else. Founded in 2011 in Acqui Terme, a town in the province of Alessandria in southeast Piedmont, the house works two production routes with deliberate separation: traditional method wines from Nebbiolo, Pinot Nero, and Chardonnay, and Charmat method wines from Moscato Bianco, Cortese, and Brachetto. Owned by Riboli Family Wines and operating within the Argea corporate group, Cuvage is not a small family cellar. It is a purposefully built modern sparkling house on historically charged ground.

The choice to include Nebbiolo in traditional method sparkling is what makes Cuvage editorially interesting. Nebbiolo is one of Italy's most demanding red grapes, the variety behind Barolo and Barbaresco, and using it as a base for secondary bottle fermentation is a local Piedmontese decision rather than a regional convention. Alta Langa, the recognised appellation for Piedmontese traditional method sparkling, builds its wines primarily on Pinot Nero and Chardonnay. Cuvage takes a different position.

Place

Acqui Terme sits at the southeastern edge of Piedmont, where the Apennines begin to rise and the province of Alessandria gives way to Liguria. The town is also where Italian sparkling wine production is recorded to have begun, in 1895. That date does not belong to Cuvage, which was founded more than a century later, but the address carries weight: the sparkling wine tradition in this corner of Piedmont runs through Brachetto d'Acqui, a lightly sparkling, lightly sweet red with strawberry and rose character, and through Moscato and Cortese, both of which have long histories in the surrounding hills.

Acqui Terme gives Cuvage a specific regional argument. The house is not in Asti, home of Moscato d'Asti, nor in the Langhe, where Alta Langa has its established profile. It is in Acqui, a town whose sparkling wine associations predate any of those appellations. For a house founded in 2011, that is a concrete form of rootedness.

Soil And Site

Specific vineyard holdings for Cuvage are not confirmed in available sources. The province of Alessandria includes soils ranging from calcareous clay in the Monferrato hills to sandier, lighter terrains closer to the Apennines. Acqui Terme's immediate surroundings are associated with the calcareous soils that give Brachetto its strawberry lift and Cortese its mineral edge, though no parcel-level or geological detail is available for Cuvage's own sourcing.

Story

Cuvage arrived in 2011 with a clear production logic already in place. Rather than starting from a single grape or a single method and expanding, the house launched with two parallel sparkling routes assigned to two distinct sets of grapes. Metodo Classico received the grapes that can sustain extended lees ageing: Chardonnay, Pinot Nero, and Nebbiolo, the last an unusual and local choice that sets Cuvage apart from the Alta Langa model. Metodo Martinotti received the aromatic grapes that benefit from shorter production time: Moscato Bianco, Cortese, and Brachetto, varieties whose floral and fruity character is preserved by lower pressure and less time in contact with spent yeast.

The Argea group, which Cuvage operates within, is one of Italy's larger wine corporations. Riboli Family Wines, which owns Cuvage, is a multi-generational winemaking family with estates in California and Italian partnerships. The combination means Cuvage has corporate scale but a focused product mandate: sparkling wine from a historically significant Piedmontese town, using both the methods and the grapes that the region has the strongest claims to.

Vineyards And Cellar

In the Metodo Classico route, grapes undergo primary fermentation, then a second fermentation in the bottle initiated by added sugar and yeast. The wine ages on its lees, the spent yeast cells, inside the sealed bottle before disgorgement. This extended lees contact builds brioche, toasted almond, and dough character alongside the fruit of the base grape. Nebbiolo in this format contributes tannin and a distinctive backbone, giving the sparkling wine grip alongside freshness. Pinot Nero and Chardonnay bring the lighter-bodied fruit and acidity that traditional-method sparkling relies on for its mousse and length.

In the Metodo Martinotti route, secondary fermentation takes place in a sealed pressurised tank rather than in individual bottles. The process is faster, and the wine retains more primary fruit aromatics. For Moscato Bianco, secondary fermentation takes place in a sealed pressurised tank. For Brachetto, secondary fermentation takes place in a sealed pressurised tank. Cortese, the grape behind Gavi, contributes a saline mineral freshness that works against sweetness in Charmat sparkling.

Wines

Cuvage's range divides cleanly by method. The Metodo Classico wines are built around Nebbiolo, Pinot Nero, and Chardonnay in traditional bottle fermentation. These wines will show the textural weight, fine persistent mousse, and lees-derived complexity that extended bottle ageing produces. Nebbiolo's tannin gives the red-based cuvees a tannic signature that Champagne-method Pinot Nero alone does not. The Metodo Martinotti wines from Moscato Bianco, Brachetto, and Cortese are fresher, more aromatic, and typically lighter in body, designed for early drinking rather than development.

Asiotus Vino Bianco Biologico Frizzante, attributed to Cuvage Srl, sits outside the main two-method framework. It is made from Glera, the grape behind Prosecco, using the tank method, and is lightly sparkling rather than fully effervescent. The wine opens with green apple, pear, almond blossom, and citrus aromas, with a lightly sweet, clean palate and a refreshing, thirst-quenching finish. It is an organic product and frizzante in style, meaning the carbonation is gentler than in spumante.

In The Glass

Across the Metodo Classico range, the dominant sensory movement goes from fine, persistent mousse through toasted almond and brioche from lees contact, into the fruit character of the base grape. Nebbiolo-based cuvees will carry more tannin and firmness than a Chardonnay or Pinot Nero blend, giving the mousse a dryer, firmer edge. Pinot Nero and Chardonnay bring red berry and citrus fruit, with the acidity to keep the wine alive through a long finish.

The Metodo Martinotti wines read differently. Moscato Bianco in Charmat produces a lightly sweet, low-alcohol sparkling wine with peach, orange blossom, and apricot. The mousse is soft. The finish is short and floral. Brachetto gives a pale red wine with strawberry and rose on the nose, delicate sweetness on the palate, and a finish that lingers on fruit rather than on acidity or yeast. Cortese in Charmat reads mineral and fresh, with citrus and green apple and the kind of saline bite that makes it useful at the table with seafood.

The Asiotus Bianco frizzante, made from Glera, delivers green apple, pear, almond blossom, and citrus from first pour. The palate is lightly sweet, with a clean, refreshing character and gentle carbonation.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Asiotus Vino Bianco Biologico Frizzante. It is made from Glera by Cuvage Srl, fermented in tank, lightly sparkling, and organic. The aromas are immediate and easy to read: green apple, ripe pear, almond blossom, and citrus. The palate is lightly sweet with soft effervescence, and the finish is clean and thirst-quenching without being sharp. At this weight and sweetness level, it works as an aperitif or alongside light starters. It is not the most technically demanding thing in the Cuvage range, but it is the most clearly documented bottle with confirmed producer attribution, confirmed method, and sourced sensory description. Start here, then move to the Metodo Classico wines if tighter texture and lees complexity are what you are after.

Anecdote

In 1895, a winemaker in Acqui Terme put bubbles into a bottle using a method borrowed from France and sold it as Italian sparkling wine. The town already had thermal baths that Romans had used and a market square that had been trading for centuries, but the sparkling wine was new. It became the regional profile: Brachetto d'Acqui, Moscato, and the particular argument that southeast Piedmont had its own claims on effervescence, separate from the Langhe to the north and from Lombardy's Franciacorta to the east. When Cuvage was founded in 2011, 116 years after that first bottle, the house set up in the same town and built its range around the same grapes. The 1895 origin belongs to the place, not to the producer, but choosing Acqui Terme in 2011 was still a decision: not Asti, not Alba, not Alta Langa, but the town where the regional sparkling wine story begins.

Final Word

Cuvage is a modern, corporate-owned sparkling house on old ground. The interest is in the place, the method split, and the decision to put Nebbiolo into traditional-method sparkling wine alongside the international varieties. It is not an artisan producer with a family cellar and three generations of winemaking. It is a focused sparkling house with a credible regional address, a clear production logic, and a range that moves from aromatic Charmat frizzante to structured Metodo Classico wines built for more complexity. For a first encounter, the Asiotus Bianco is the simplest entry; for the fuller picture of what Cuvage is doing technically, the Nebbiolo Metodo Classico is a traditional-method wine made with Nebbiolo.

Sources

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