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Perlino

Piedmont house founded in Asti in 1905, producing Charmat-method sparkling wines and a century-old botanical vermouth at industrial scale.

The producer

Giuseppe Perlino started in Castello D'Annone, a small municipality in the Province of Asti, in 1905. The enterprise grew into larger premises on the outskirts of Asti and, at the end of the 1990s, added a second production site at Montiglio Monferrato with wooden barrels and barriques for ageing. Today the house handles more than 130,000 hectolitres annually across its sparkling-wine and vermouth cellars, and is part of La Martiniquaise, a French spirits group.

Two product families define the range. The sparkling wines are Charmat-method, built on the Moscato Bianco grape of the Asti DOCG zone, a territory of 9,700 hectares of hillside vineyard across three Piedmont provinces carrying UNESCO World Heritage status. The vermouth line, the more technically distinctive side of the operation, runs on a recipe unchanged for more than a century: over 20 aromatic herbs and spices macerated in alcohol for a minimum of 30 days, then blended with wine and sugar. Vermouth Bianco, Rosso, and Extra Dry each take a different point on the sugar and botanical spectrum, but the maceration sequence is the same across all three.

Known for

Asti DOCG sparkling wines and botanical vermouth from a fixed century-old recipe

Notable facts

The story

Same Recipe, Ten Million Bottles

In 2022, Perlino's vermouth bottling line in Asti was running at 12,000 bottles per hour. By the end of that year it had filled 10 million bottles. The number is easy to say and hard to picture until you set it against where the business started: one man, Giuseppe Perlino, in a small town called Castello D'Annone in the Province of Asti, in 1905, with a recipe for wine and an infusion of herbs. The recipe has not changed. The herbs, more than 20 of them, still macerate in alcohol for at least 30 days in the same sequence the house has followed for over a century. What changed was everything around it: the move to Asti, the second site at Montiglio Monferrato, the temperature-controlled warehouses added in 2018 and again in 2022. Ten million bottles in a year, same recipe as 1905.

Same Recipe, Ten Million Bottles

In 2022, Perlino's vermouth bottling line in Asti was running at 12,000 bottles per hour. By the end of that year it had filled 10 million bottles. The number is easy to say and hard to picture until you set it against where the business started: one man, Giuseppe Perlino, in a small town called Castello D'Annone in the Province of Asti, in 1905, with a recipe for wine and an infusion of herbs. The recipe has not changed. The herbs, more than 20 of them, still macerate in alcohol for at least 30 days in the same sequence the house has followed for over a century. What changed was everything around it: the move to Asti, the second site at Montiglio Monferrato, the temperature-controlled warehouses added in 2018 and again in 2022. Ten million bottles in a year, same recipe as 1905.

From the atlas

Perlino

At A Glance

The Producer

Giuseppe Perlino started in 1905 in Castello D'Annone, a small town in the Province of Asti, with the intention of bringing the finest wines of the territory to wider markets. The enterprise grew into larger premises on the outskirts of Asti, and then, at the end of the 1990s, expanded again with a second production site at Montiglio Monferrato, fitted with wooden barrels and barriques for wine ageing. Today Perlino operates from its main Asti facility and the Montiglio Monferrato site, moving more than 130,000 hectolitres annually across its sparkling-wine and vermouth cellars. The house is now part of La Martiniquaise, a French spirits group.

Two things define Perlino clearly: its position at the centre of one of Piedmont's most productive sparkling-wine zones, and a vermouth recipe that has not changed in more than a century. Those two product lines sit in separate cellar worlds but share the same Asti address and the same founding logic: source the best from the territory, and keep the process stable.

Place

Asti sits in the southern Piedmont hills, between the Langhe to the south and the Monferrato to the north and east. The city is the natural hub of the Asti DOCG zone, a territory covering 9,700 hectares of vineyard across the provinces of Cuneo, Asti, and Alessandria, almost all of it planted to Moscato Bianco. The zone carries UNESCO World Heritage status, partly for the cultural landscape of the hillside vine rows but also for the deep tradition of Moscato-based sparkling wine that has made Asti one of Italy's most recognisable wine appellations internationally.

For Perlino, the Asti location does specific work: it puts the house within the DOCG boundary for its sparkling wines, gives it access to the Moscato Bianco grape that drives the Asti category, and places it near the Monferrato hills where the second site handles barrel ageing. The label consequence is direct: Asti DOCG on the sparkling wines, Piedmont on the vermouths, and a Prosecco DOC that reaches outside the region.

Soil And Site

The Asti DOCG hillside vineyards sit on calcareous marl and clay soils, typical of the Monferrato and Langhe foothills, with the altitude and aspect varying across the zone's three provinces. These soils and the Continental climate with warm summers drive the aromatic ripeness of Moscato Bianco in the frizzante and fully sparkling styles of Asti. Perlino does not publish sourced information on vineyard ownership or direct farming, so no specific parcel or estate site can be attributed to the house.

Story

Giuseppe Perlino launched his business in the early years of the twentieth century from Castello D'Annone, a compact municipality in the Asti province where wine trading and production were already established trades. Growth meant moving closer to the city, and by mid-century Perlino had settled into larger premises on the outskirts of Asti itself. The critical product decision came in the 1930s, when the house added sparkling wine and vermouth to its wine operation. That pivot established the two product lines that every subsequent investment has followed.

The Montiglio Monferrato site, built at the end of the 1990s as national and international markets expanded, gave the house dedicated barrel ageing capacity away from the main production floor. The 2018 and 2022 warehouse additions, each 3,000 square metres with temperature control, reflect the same logic: scale that keeps pace with volume without changing the product formula. More than 130,000 hectolitres pass through the sparkling and vermouth cellars each year. By 2022, the vermouth bottling line was running at 12,000 bottles per hour and had filled 10 million bottles in that year alone.

Vineyards And Cellar

Perlino's sparkling wines are made by the Charmat method, known in Italy as the Martinotti method: secondary fermentation takes place in pressurised, sealed tanks rather than in individual bottles. Closed-vat fermentation at controlled temperature preserves the fresh aromatics of Moscato Bianco, and a long resting period in tank after fermentation adds body and complexity before bottling. The wine carries the grape's characteristic apricot, peach, and orange blossom aromas with a mousse that is fine rather than aggressive, and a sweetness that is kept lively by the variety's natural acidity.

The vermouth operation runs on a separate logic. Aromatic herbs and spices, more than 20 in the recipe, are macerated in alcohol for a minimum of 30 days. The hydro-alcoholic infusion extracts the botanical aromatics slowly, and the resulting liquid is then blended with wine, additional alcohol, and sugar to produce the final product. The recipe has been held fixed for more than a century. No post-blending barrel ageing is stated for any of the three vermouth styles.

Wines

Perlino's range divides into two distinct product families that share an Asti origin but operate in entirely different categories.

The sparkling wines cover Asti DOCG and Prosecco DOC. The Asti DOCG bottles are Moscato Bianco-based, Charmat-method sparkling wines carrying the sweetness and aromatic character that define the appellation: low alcohol, gentle mousse, pronounced stone-fruit and flower aromas, and a palate that is sweet without being heavy because the grape's acidity provides lift. The Prosecco DOC is made from Glera, also by tank fermentation, with dosage that places it in the extra-dry style: slightly off-dry, with pear and green apple fruit and a clean, uncomplicated finish.

The vermouth line is more technically differentiated. Vermouth Bianco is straw yellow with 140 grams of residual sugar per litre, an intense herbal and spice bouquet with vanilla, and a sweet, harmonious palate. Vermouth Rosso carries deeper colour, higher sugar, and a richer aromatic profile built on the same botanical base. Vermouth Extra Dry takes the same 30-day maceration process but moves to a lower-sugar, drier style with juniper prominent in the nose and a clean, dry finish. Across all three, the botanical framework is identical; the differentiation comes from sugar level, colour, and the weight given to individual botanicals within the blend.

In The Glass

The Asti DOCG opens with apricot, white peach, and orange blossom on the nose, the unmistakable aromatic signature of Moscato Bianco at low alcohol. In the mouth, the sweetness lands first but does not sit heavily because the variety's acidity cuts through and keeps the palate moving. The mousse is soft. The finish is short and clean, with the fruit fading rather than lingering. This is a wine built for immediate drinking, not for contemplation.

Vermouth Bianco shows more aromatic complexity on opening: herbs, baking spice, and vanilla rise from the glass together, the 30-day botanical maceration pulling multiple aromatic compounds into a single coherent blend. At 140 grams of sugar per litre the palate is unmistakably sweet, but the herbal bitterness from the maceration gives it a dry backbone that prevents the sugar from feeling simple. Served cold over ice, or alongside sparkling water in an aperitivo format, the bitterness and sweetness rotate rather than one overwhelming the other.

Vermouth Extra Dry is the driest of the three, with juniper leading the nose and a palate that reads as firmly dry. The same botanical depth is present but the sugar is low enough that the herbal and bitter elements dominate from first sip to finish.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Vermouth Bianco. It is the bottle that runs closest to the founding recipe and shows most clearly what the house does technically: a minimum of 30 days of botanical maceration, more than 20 herbs, blended with wine and sugar to 140 grams per litre. The straw-yellow colour is pale and clean, the nose is intense, and the palate is sweet but held in check by the herbal backbone. Pour it over ice with a slice of orange, and the bitterness becomes more prominent as the temperature drops. It is an honest aperitivo, and it is the reason the house has kept the same formula for more than a century without revision.

Anecdote

In 2022, Perlino's vermouth bottling line in Asti was running at 12,000 bottles per hour. By the end of that year it had filled 10 million bottles. The number is easy to say and hard to picture until you set it against where the business started: one man, Giuseppe Perlino, in a small town called Castello D'Annone in the Province of Asti, in 1905, with a recipe for wine and an infusion of herbs. The recipe has not changed. The herbs, more than 20 of them, still macerate in alcohol for at least 30 days in the same sequence the house has followed for over a century. What changed was everything around it: the move to Asti, the second site at Montiglio Monferrato, the temperature-controlled warehouses added in 2018 and again in 2022. Ten million bottles in a year, same recipe as 1905.

Final Word

Perlino is a house built on consistency. The vermouth recipe is the clearest proof: fixed for more than 100 years, made in the same sequence of botanical maceration and blending, and now produced at a scale that would have been unimaginable when Giuseppe Perlino started in Castello D'Annone. The sparkling wines are rooted in the Asti DOCG zone, one of Piedmont's most planted and most recognised sparkling-wine territories. Between the two product families, the house covers both the Italian aperitivo tradition and the sweet sparkling-wine category that Asti built its international reputation on. It is a commercial operation, and it is transparent about being one.

Sources

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