Giulio Cocchi

Florentine origins and the foundation in Asti

Giulio Cocchi began his professional life as a young pastry chef in Florence, working at a prominent bar in Piazza del Duomo. At the end of the nineteenth century, during a train journey towards Torino, he stopped in Asti after his luggage was stolen. The family story holds that he fell in love with the daughter of a café owner in Piazza Alfieri, married her and settled in the city. The café subsequently became known as Bar Cocchi and remains an Asti meeting place.

Asti introduced him to Moscato, sparkling-wine production and the Piedmontese practice of aromatizing wine with herbs and spices. In 1891 he opened Distilleria San Pietro beside the medieval Battistero di San Pietro. The business produced aromatized wines, liqueurs and sparkling wines; Asti Spumante was then made by secondary fermentation in bottle. Cocchi created recipes for Barolo Chinato, Aperitivo Americano and several vermouths. Aperitivo Americano has remained in uninterrupted production from its original 1891 formula.

Giulio combined confectionery skills with botanical and winemaking knowledge. He patented machinery for liqueur production and established a facility where citrus fruit—an important element of his recipes—could be processed under his direct control. His Americano Bianco and Barolo Chinato helped move these drinks beyond domestic and rural consumption into the bars and salons of Torino.

The Cocchi bars and early international expansion

Giulio developed authorized retail and tasting premises where consumers could experience the range directly. Seven Cocchi tasting branches operated in Piemonte by 1913, and the network soon expanded to twelve across Piemonte and Liguria. It flourished during the 1910s and 1920s, providing both distribution and a testing ground for the products. Several former branches still retain names such as Bar Barolino Cocchi, Bar Barolo Chinato Cocchi and Bar Cocchi.

Cocchi’s recipes and graphic identity became familiar during the Belle Époque and the Futurist period. The rooster used for Aperitivo Americano in the 1930s represented an aperitif that “awakens the appetite” and also recalled one of Asti’s civic symbols.

Giulio worked with his wife, Giuseppina, and their seven children. Their son Federico subsequently drove the company’s international development. Export records document shipments to New York, London, Sydney, colonial Africa and Venezuela, often in large barrels. In 1935 Federico moved to Asmara in Eritrea and opened a Bar Cocchi that became a local reference point. Around 1945 he established Casa Cocchi de Venezuela in Caracas; the operation remained active for many years. Cocchi vermouth reached New York in the 1950s, initially finding an audience among Italian emigrants.

Transfer from the Cocchi family to the Bava family

Federico’s daughter Adria eventually transferred the business to Piero Bava during the 1970s. The change was completed in 1978, when the Bava family became owner and operator of Giulio Cocchi. The Bavas had produced wine in Monferrato since the seventeenth century and brought their viticultural background in Monferrato and Langhe to the company.

The new owners modernized production while retaining the original recipes and artisanal identity. They concentrated operations on wine and grape-derived products and discontinued Cocchi’s own distilling activity. The present range nevertheless includes grappas made from Cocchi pomace through specialist collaboration.

The company remained a family business. Three generations of Bavas have participated in its development: Piero; his children Roberto, Giulio and Paolo; and the grandchildren Francesca, Giorgio and Andrea. The family strengthened links with Piedmontese wine, modernized techniques and renewed the company’s international presence.

Sparkling-wine development and the revival of historic categories

Cocchi Brut was first made from the 1979 harvest, initiating the modern range of tank-method brut sparkling wines. In 1991, the centenary was marked by the debut of Primosecolo, a Piemonte DOC Chardonnay dedicated to Giulio Cocchi’s sparkling-wine work.

Cocchi also became closely involved with Alta Langa and the revival of Piemonte’s bottle-fermented sparkling-wine tradition. Totocorde debuted in 1999. Bianc ‘d Bianc and Rösa followed in 2000; Cocchi pioneered both a white-grape-only Alta Langa and a rosé Alta Langa. Pas Dosé was introduced in 2011 as a zero-dosage expression reserved for exceptional vintages.

The company simultaneously worked to protect Barolo Chinato from disappearance and to restore Vermouth di Torino to international prominence. Storico Vermouth di Torino returned for the company’s 120th anniversary in 2011, based on Giulio Cocchi’s original formula, and became a central part of the renewed high-end Vermouth di Torino category. Cocchi later participated in drafting the proposal for the protected Vermouth di Torino Geographical Indication, whose regulation was approved on 22 March 2017.

A new Cocchi Brut Rosé, made entirely from Piedmontese Pinot Nero, joined the tank-method range in summer 2020. Production continues to encompass traditional aromatized wines, Piemonte tank-method sparkling wines and Alta Langa DOCG made by bottle fermentation.

Historic-company recognition and the present era

In 2012 Giulio Cocchi entered the National Register of Historic Companies of Italy in recognition of its uninterrupted activity. Its environmental work also received the Ecofriendly Company 2013 distinction from Vinibuoni d’Italia and Touring Club Italiano in collaboration with Verallia.

By 2021 the company was active in 70 international markets, spanning wine shops, restaurants and cocktail bars on five continents. Its 135th anniversary was celebrated in 2026 with commemorative vermouth labels and a numbered Barolo Chinato edition. The anniversary narrative continues to place the founder’s recipes alongside contemporary work in viticulture, cellar practice, botanical selection, hospitality and mixology.

Cocchi’s identity is rooted in Asti and the wider Piemonte region. Piedmontese grapes, wines, medicinal herbs and local styles of consumption form the basis of its sparkling and aromatized-wine work. The historic production activity began beside Asti’s Battistero di San Pietro, while the current winery and visitor facilities are in Cocconato.

Fruit is associated with several Piedmontese zones. Moscato is selected from hills around Asti; Pinot Nero for parts of the tank-method range is harvested in the Langhe Astigiane; and the Bava family’s vineyard base extends through Monferrato and Langhe. Barbera pomace used for grappa comes from the Monferrato hills.

Alta Langa fruit comes from elevated vineyards on the hills to the right of the Tanaro River. The denomination’s vineyards lie above 250 metres, and Cocchi works with Pinot Nero and Chardonnay from this high-hill environment. Chardonnay used for its white-grape Alta Langa comes from white marl-limestone soils. One organically farmed source vineyard in Monforte d’Alba has dry, predominantly marly calcareous soils, a west-facing exposure and high elevation.

Piemonte also shapes the botanical component of production. The company emphasizes local medicinal herbs, including Piedmontese Artemisia, while Alpine herbs contribute to selected formulas. Its approach treats wine and botanical provenance as two parts of the same regional identity.

The Bava family vineyards in Monferrato and Langhe are cultivated with an explicit commitment to care for the land, sustainable agriculture and reduced environmental impact. The 50-hectare figure refers to the wider family estate rather than an area assigned exclusively to Giulio Cocchi.

Harvesting practices vary with the sparkling-wine category. Alta Langa Pinot Nero and Chardonnay are picked by hand and delivered for whole-bunch pressing. Pinot Nero from the Langhe Astigiane is also hand-picked into small crates and taken promptly to the cellar. One source vineyard at Monforte d’Alba is cultivated organically with Pinot Nero and Chardonnay planted on the same parcel.

Environmental measures extend beyond the vineyard. Reused cellar pupitres formed part of a sustainability-focused exhibition design in 2019, and PVC sheets from a Roma Bar Show stand were later converted into document holders rather than discarded.

Wine-based production

Cocchi concentrates on products based on wine and grape derivatives. The Bava family ended the company’s own distilling activity after taking ownership, while grappas continue through collaboration using Cocchi pomace. The range joins oenological work with botanical expertise, with Giulio Bava working as an oenologist and Paolo Bava as both oenologist and botanist.

Historic aromatized wines continue from formulas developed by Giulio Cocchi. Wine quality, careful ingredient selection and the use of herbs and spices—particularly Piedmontese and Alpine botanicals—define this side of production. The contemporary range retains the original recipes while allowing research by the oenological and botanical team, including work undertaken with bartenders for newer vermouth projects.

Metodo Classico and Alta Langa

Alta Langa Pinot Nero and Chardonnay are hand-picked and whole-cluster pressed. The first alcoholic fermentation takes place in steel, after which vintage cuvées are assembled from wines of the same harvest. Secondary fermentation occurs in bottle. Bottles mature horizontally in cool, dark historic cellars for extended periods; the range includes examples aged from 36 to 60 months and beyond.

Riddling is performed by hand on wooden A-frame pupitres, followed by ice disgorgement. Dosage depends on the intended style, extending from brut cuvées with a small liqueur d’expédition addition to Pas Dosé released without added sugar. Alta Langa is always vintage-dated and is made only in suitable harvests.

Metodo Italiano or “Piedmontese Method”

Cocchi uses the name “Piedmontese Method” for its interpretation of the pressure-tank process developed by Federico Martinotti in Asti in 1895. The technique is applied to Piedmontese varieties and varieties with a long-established role in the region.

Grapes are softly pressed to separate juice from skins and seeds. After overnight settling, the must undergoes temperature-controlled alcoholic fermentation in stainless steel. The resulting wine remains on its lees for approximately two to three months before transfer to a pressure-resistant steel autoclave. Added yeast starts the second fermentation and creates the natural effervescence. On completion, the wine is refrigerated and filtered, then bottled isobarically to preserve equal pressure before closure and labelling.

For the rosé expression, whole Pinot Nero bunches receive brief skin contact followed by slow pressing. Alcoholic fermentation occurs in steel, and the second fermentation begins in pressure tanks in early spring and proceeds over approximately 60 days.

Cellar and visitor facilities

The winery in Cocconato includes a tasting space dedicated to vermouth, food pairings, professional bartender workshops and specialist seminars. Its Botanical Library presents the herbs and spices used in vermouth production.

Cocchi defines its style through elegance and authenticity, connecting ingredient quality with more than a century of technical experience. Its declared priorities are constant quality research, creativity and the preservation of the founder’s recipes without treating tradition as static.

The Bava era combines continuity with technical modernization. The historic formulas remain the basis of the aromatized wines, while contemporary oenology, botanical research and collaboration with hospitality professionals shape new work. The same outlook underlies the protection of Barolo Chinato, the international relaunch of Vermouth di Torino and the creation and promotion of Alta Langa DOCG.

Piemonte is treated as both a source of ingredients and a cultural framework: Piedmontese wines and grapes, medicinal and Alpine herbs, local drinking customs and regional aesthetics are intended to remain visible in the finished range. The company describes quality in the vineyard, cellar and selection of botanicals as a single, continuous commitment.

Family stewardship is another stated principle. The transition from the Cocchi family to three generations of the Bava family preserved the family-business model, while hospitality remains central to how the products are presented and understood.

Environmental and social projects extend this philosophy beyond production. Vineyard agriculture is directed toward lower environmental impact, reusable materials have been incorporated into exhibition design, and discarded promotional PVC has been repurposed through a prison-based social cooperative.