In 1954, led by don Carlo Montrucchio, a group of 50 wine producers founded a cooperative society called the Antica Contea di Castelvero, the ancient name of Castel Boglione, which is still the current headquarters of the Araldica Group. Its first president was Pietro Abate, under whose leadership the first harvest was conducted. The aim of the cooperative society was to valorise its associates’ work, to share experience, machinery, manpower and ideas in an area where wine production was considered to be a depressed and scarcely remunerative activity.

Under the guidance of Pietro Laudano and Livio Manera, the original cooperative society grew to become a beacon for producers in the area. The quality of the yield improved in time and the foundations were laid for future investments.

While the first regulations of the wine appellations were being compiled, the cooperative society built one of the most impressive barrel ageing cellars in Piedmont, with a capacity for 15,000 hectolitres of wine. This was a fortunate intuition because, in those same years, the regulations were to stipulate that Barbera d’Asti «Superiore» could only be aged in wood casks. In the meantime, the number of bottles being produced increased, along with the solidity of the cooperative society

Oenologists Claudio Manera and Lella Burdese came on board. Investments were made in renewed technologies and in modern quality control systems.

The Araldica Vini Piemontesi was set up as the sales department of the cooperative society with the objective of penetrating new markets.

In 1991, Claudio Manera became the new general manager of Araldica Vini Piemontesi. More resources were invested in the vineyards and improved viticultural assistance was provided to associates with a view to harvesting high quality grapes. At the same time, the winery of Castel Boglione acquired new machinery and became an avant-garde wine hub.

The Cascinone, the historical estate in the municipality of Acqui Terme, joined the cooperative society’s estates. It was managed directly but autonomously as a separate farming business. Today, the Cascinone, with its 120 hectares comprised in a single plot of land, is the crowning achievement of the Gruppo Araldica owing to its production of Barbera d’Asti and Alta Langa.

To address the growing market demand, a new production plant was built next to the old winery, where a new bottling line was installed. Following the investments made to renew and modernize the winery, efforts were focused on distribution and the sales network: this led to the set-up of Araldica Distribuzione, a company engaged in strengthening the Group’s wine distribution on the domestic market.

The Group took over the Battistina, a wineproducing gem in the Gavi area, 26 hectares cultivated exclusively with cortese vines for the production of Gavi. The Battistina estate positions the group among the premium producers of Piedmont’s Gavi wine, a product widely acclaimed and appreciated on international markets.

The foundation of Adria Vini, a subsidiary of Gruppo Araldica engaged in the botting of Italian regional wines.

The foundation of Gruppo Araldica Castelvero, destined to become the largest shareholder of Boutinot Ltd, a leading wine distributor in the United Kingdom and an important exporter on international markets.

The latest acquisition of the group is the Tenuta Santa Seraffa, an estate perched on a splendid cliff dividing the Scrivia Valley from the Gavi area. The Estate is specialized in the production of Gavi di Gavi DOCG.