The ancient town of Canelli, about half an hour’s drive south of Asti city, is the historical centre of the Asti Spumante industry and the major manufacturing centre for winemaking equipment in Italy. The old castle perches on top of a hill in the centre of town, and most of the old Spumante houses have built their Cantinas (wineries) along the bottom of the hill with extensive cellars carved directly into the limestone rock under the hill. This network of tunnels, kilometres long, have become showcase museums for many of the wineries, shrines to the wine making art known as the “underground cathedrals of wine”.

One of the better known ones is the Contratto Cantina and museum. The Contratto family started business here in the 1870’s and in fact are not just a producer of Asti Spumante, most of their output is methode classico (Champagne type) style of wines, as well as Piedmont’s famous big 3 reds – Barolo, Barberesco and Barbera d’Asti. We visited the cellars on Sunday, which is open day, other days of the week require an appointment, and were impressed at how the old cantina, which although still very much a working winery, has been turned into a showcase of old wine making equipment and wonderfully laid out. Entering through the big covered courtyard we went into the first level of cellars where thousands of bottles stand in their pupitres, or triangular wooden stands, undergoing the process of gathering the sediment into the neck of the bottle before degorgement in which the sediment is frozen and the pressure expels it from the bottle. The cellars maintain a constant 12-14 degrees C temperature, ideal for the process and aging of bottled wine. Descending to the next level, we walked through hundreds of metres of limestone-encrusted tunnels used for storage of wine in barrels and bottles until we reached the underground tasting room, lit by candles, where we tasted the reserve Brut 1997 a delicious blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Nero grapes as well as on of the classic Asti Spumante, made from Moscato grapes. The whole tour lasts about an hour and is in our opinion well worth it, not to mention that the area has several famous restaurants to take in before or after.

Museo Contratto – via G.B.Giulana 56, Canelli, Italy .