Chiarli Modena

1860: Cleto Chiarli begins producing wine in Modena

Cleto Chiarli moved to Modena with his wife, Lucia, and their children in 1860. In the historic city centre they opened the Trattoria dell’Artigliere, which combined a restaurant, guest rooms and a shop. Cleto made Lambrusco in an adjoining cellar, and its rapid popularity among the trattoria’s customers persuaded him to leave catering and devote himself fully to wine.

Cleto obtained formal authorization to build the cellar serving the trattoria. He chose to bottle the wine under a label identifying its producer and introduced the mushroom-shaped cork to retain Lambrusco’s natural liveliness. His guiding idea was that wine should combine quality with consistency over time.

1880–1900: the second generation, expansion and export

Between 1880 and 1885, Cleto’s son Anselmo Chiarli brought greater structure to the business. The family began working with the province’s first cooperative wineries, establishing the model of local supply relationships that remains important to Chiarli Modena.

The first exports followed in 1885. Lambrusco Chiarli travelled abroad with emigrants from Modena and elsewhere in Italy. Rising demand led to the construction of a larger, more modern cellar in Via Poletti in 1888.

Around 1900, the company introduced machinery for securing corks, making production safer and more modern. It also adopted the strong English bottle to protect the wine’s effervescence and integrity. Annual output passed 100,000 bottles. At the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, Chiarli received a Mention Honorable, giving the winery an early international distinction.

1900–1947: industrial growth, international markets and wartime destruction

Under Anselmo, commercial expansion was supported by refinements in production, improving transport and a growing middle class interested in more modern sparkling wines. By the 1930s, annual production exceeded one million bottles even though Lambrusco was still refermented in bottle and the work was performed by hand. Exports reached France, England, Germany, the United States and South America.

A new production facility opened in Via Manin, Modena, in 1924. Designed as an advanced winery for its time, it became the company’s headquarters and the production centre that would later be identified particularly with Chiarli Modena.

In spring 1944, bombing of Modena’s northern outskirts almost completely destroyed the facility. Operations stopped, and several young employees who had left for the front did not return. Anselmo’s sons, Giovanni and Giorgio Chiarli, led the postwar recovery. Production resumed in 1946, and rebuilding and modernization were completed in 1947.

1950s–1970: controlled sparkling-wine production and a larger market

Postwar demand lifted production beyond three million bottles and toward four million during the 1950s. In 1952, Chiarli became the first company in Emilia-Romagna to introduce autoclaves. The historic Modena winery subsequently moved Lambrusco production from bottle refermentation toward the controlled Martinotti–Charmat tank method. This made it possible to obtain more aromatic, fruit-driven and harmonious wines in styles suited to changing consumer tastes.

Improved organization and logistics helped sparkling wine move from special occasions to everyday Italian tables. In 1960, the company’s centenary was marked by the creation of the Sorbara-based Centenario line and by further investment in buildings and machinery.

Giorgio’s sons Mauro and Anselmo entered management in 1964 as the fourth generation. Between 1968 and 1975 they reorganized the business: Mauro concentrated on the family’s agricultural holdings, vineyard relocation and clonal selection, while Anselmo focused on commercial activity and modernization of the winery’s internal processes.

In 1970, production and sales reached six million bottles a year. The same period brought DOC recognition for the three Modenese Lambrusco denominations—Sorbara, Grasparossa and Salamino di Santa Croce—and the beginning of a programme to recover and select historic Sorbara and Grasparossa material. GDC training systems were introduced in 1972 to improve grape health and ripening in the family vineyards.

The 1970s and 1980s: scale, quality and Vecchia Modena

Lambrusco’s expanding domestic and export markets prompted the Modena winery to double capacity during the 1970s. Production eventually approached 20 million bottles, approximately half of them Lambrusco DOC. Chiarli maintained a policy of making recognizable, traditional wines without compromising quality even as inexpensive, standardized Lambrusco became increasingly common. Its participation in the BIBE exhibition in Genoa in 1979 helped strengthen recognition in Italy and abroad.

At the 1980 national congress of Assoenologi, Chiarli introduced Vecchia Modena Brut, a dry Lambrusco di Sorbara conceived as an alternative to the sweet, low-alcohol style then dominating the market. The launch inaugurated a new phase for the company’s quality-focused Lambrusco and remains a defining part of the Chiarli Modena identity.

During the wider Lambrusco downturn of the 1980s and 1990s, the family pursued a programme of renewal encompassing vineyard modernization, clonal selection and renewed emphasis on Sorbara and Grasparossa. Giovanni Chiarli died in 1989; Giorgio died in 2002, with Mauro and Anselmo succeeding them in leadership.

2000 onward: a distinct role within the family business

By 2000, overall production had surpassed 20 million bottles and half was exported. The family subsequently created separate estate-based premium projects at Castelvetro, while Chiarli Modena production remained at the historic Via Manin headquarters. Chiarli Modena wines are made there from grapes and other wine-sector raw materials supplied through long-established relationships with local winegrowers and cooperative wineries.

The division of activities gave Chiarli Modena a distinct role: an extensive, accessible portfolio grounded in large-scale sparkling-wine expertise, local supplier relationships and the historical production infrastructure in Modena. In 2024, the Modena operation bottled 16,180,585 bottles.

In 2024 the organization began the Equalitas certification process, evaluating environmental, ethical and economic sustainability across its activities. Certification was achieved in 2026. The same year, Chiarli Modena received a separate digital identity within the family’s reorganized group structure, presented as a century-old operation sustained by grower relationships, certified sustainability and accumulated production expertise.

Historic Modena winery

Chiarli Modena wines are produced at the historic Via Manin headquarters in Modena. The facility originated as an advanced new winery in the 1920s, was almost destroyed by bombing in 1944, resumed work in 1946 and was subsequently rebuilt, enlarged and repeatedly modernized.

Sparkling-wine technology

The company’s early technical developments included mushroom-shaped corks, machinery for securing cork closures and the strong English bottle used to protect pressure and preserve effervescence. Chiarli introduced autoclaves ahead of other Emilia-Romagna producers during the 1950s and adopted controlled Martinotti–Charmat production. Tank fermentation enabled more aromatic, fruit-driven and harmonious Lambrusco and supported consistent styles for a much larger market.

Continued refinement of the Martinotti process has included single-fermentation sparkling-wine research, in which must proceeds directly through alcoholic fermentation and prise de mousse in a pressure tank rather than undergoing a separate second fermentation.

Process control and bottling

Production phases are organized through detailed protocols that identify equipment, product and process controls, responsible personnel and operating procedures. Enological processing aids and additives are managed through documented rules covering quantities, use, storage and traceability. All activities are recorded on customized forms.

Wine is analytically checked at the principal stages of production by the internal laboratory and accredited external laboratories. The internal laboratory participated in the Unione Italiana Vini RT-LAB proficiency-testing programme in 2024. Bottling controls include bottle rinsing, equipment inspection and regular checks on line pressure and washing nozzles.

In 2024, the operation bottled 148,335 hl and 16,180,585 bottles. Future investments identified for the production site include a new bottling line, machinery-efficiency improvements, electronic traceability, lower-capacity thermal equipment and washing systems designed to recover most process water.