It was 1918…
In the early 1900s Casale Monferrato was an animated, fair and industrious city, full of commercial business which, after the World War I, were soon growing up in number. Among the activities of the city, in 1918 appeared a laboratory attached to the shop of liquors and vermouth, created by Paolo Berta and Domenico Magno in a very central Street, Via Lanza; they immediately began to develop a recipe of a highly characteristic product, the “Amaro Casale”.
Magnoberta was born
In 1937 Giuseppe Luparia, native of San Martino di Rosignano, bought the company’s shares of Magno&Berta with his son Rinaldo.
From the beginning, because of the young Rinaldo, the production of Grappa increased to the point of transforming the company into a real distillery, as evidenced by the bottles of “Grappa Piemonte” of the 30s and 40s.
All Change!
In 1994 the company, that in the meantime had changed its name in "Magnoberta", moved beside the road Casale-Asti in a modern and wide factory, with a shed dedicated to the production and a building for the offices.
From Father to son
With the entrance in 1962 of Alberto Luparia – Rinaldo’s son – the Magnoberta’s modern age began: six new copper stills at low pressure and discontinuous cycle have been introduced in the distillery, still used today for the production of a wide range of grappa, that has been becoming the characteristic product of the company. Two years later, in 1964, thanks to the discontinuous method of distillation (which has the benefit of respecting the characters of the various type of marc) “Grappa Malvasia” was born, which was the first monovitigno spirit of Magnoberta.
The Magnoberta that likes
In 1970 “Gran Riserva Grappa del Monferrato” won the “Raspo d’oro” award; it has been bottled in a limited number of bottles.
The 70s saw the birth of some products which had been the success of Magnoberta, such as Amaro Wundebar (based on herbs infusion) and above everything the “Mambo”, the very first Italian Vodkalemon launched on the market in 1974 and produced at the rate of 500.000 bottles per year.
Even more… Grappa!
With the 80s, Magnoberta started the production and commercialization of new products, such as the Mathilda Rhum (blend of rhum coming from Jamaica and Barbados), a wide range of products for pastry alcoholic and non-alcoholic and fruit to the natural. The sector dedicated to pastry industry became soon very important for the company, that today still produces more than 100 references dedicated to the artisanal pastry’s laboratories among whom arises the Meringata, the first non-alcoholic product to be introduced on the Italian market.
At the same time a small bain-marie distillation plant, working under vacuum at low temperature and with a slow distillation process, has been introduced for the production of “Acquaviti di Uva” from aromatic vines of Piedmont: from Moscato of Canelli to Malvasia of Casorzo. The vacuum distillation allows to proceed with a lower temperature, which doesn’t stress the aromatic components of grapes and therefore makes it possible to preserve the most noble part during the distillation, to obtain a product extremely rich in the aromas of the vines of origin.
Present and Future
In 1995 Andrea, Alberto’s second son, began to work in the distillery. The three generations of Luparias had been working together for few years only: Rinaldo, in fact, passed away in 1998, at the age of 84. A little later his other nephews, Valeria and Roberta, entered the company, respectively in 2003 and in 2012.
The new millennium
The 2000 saw the birth of “Distillati di Casa Luparia”, a selection of Grappa monovitigno which would have made the difference, finding place in the most important chain of large dealers all over the Italian territory, which would have brought the Casale’s spirit to a big public.
Three new products were reminding the figure of Rinaldo, the “Nobili of Casa Luparia”: Marquise, Grappa of Malvasia, aged 10 years; Princesse, Grappa of Moscato, aged 3 years; Baronne, Reserve of three types of vines: Barbera, Grignolino e Freisa, aged 20 years.
New awards
The new deal of marketing gave soon good results: among the twenty awards of “Vinitaly Grappa Testing Awards 2007”, organized by Veronafiere in collaboration with Centro Studi Assaggiatori and sponsored by Istituto Nazionale Grappa, one of them had been assigned to Distilleria Magnoberta, for the Grappa of “Moscato di Canelli”, basing on about 7000 tasting and among more than one hundred products in competition.
A big Historia
In 2008, for the 90th Anniversary of the company, a range of products has been created to cover the following ten years, grouped under the name “HISTORIA”. Every edition of “HISTORIA” represents the best selection of the production of each year, aged in barrels in the cellars of Magnoberta. The common denominator of this edition is the collection of labels made by several local artists – or artists who choose Monferrato for living – who have been asked to give their interpretation of the theme ”sunset on the hills”.
The most loved Grappa
Grappa Morbida, a blend of distillated spirits from marc of Moscato, Brachetto e Malvasia, won the “Cinque Grappoli Bibenda“ awards in 2005; the same recognition would be given to Magnoberta even in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
All the colors of Cocktails
Gin.it is born! Contained in an elegant etched bottle, it’s an “Italian, Noble, Botanic” gin, distilled from more than 12 very perfumed botanic, among whom stick out juniper, orange, angelica, coriander, blueberry and zenzero. Gin.it is naturally suitable to realized any cocktail for every moment of the day.
“Cento anni distillati”
In 2018, for the centenary of the foundation, Magnoberta has been renewed: the building faced on Strada Asti has been totally restyled, not only in the aspect but also in the substance, hosting next to the office the shop “Grapperia 918”, the permanent exhibition dedicated to the distillery’s history, a space dedicated to tasting and courses. A book – “Cento anni distillati” – retraces the story of the company and a season of cultural event of promotion of the territory starts.
Celebrating such an important anniversary, doesn’t mean feel arrived; this is the sensation that can be perceived entering Magnoberta.
Going upstairs you can immediately meet the “Luparias”: Alberto, Roberta, Andrea e Valeria are at the factory every day, inside an office which is simply separated with a wall from what once was Rinaldo Luparia’s home. Tenacity and industriousness of Piedmont are breathed in the shed of the distillery, in the aging cellars, in the bottling and packaging department, in the big courtyard that “Luparias” cross by bike to make quick and in the steam cloud that comes out from the drying oven.