Vecchia Romagna: how the best-selling Italian brandy in the world was born

Antonio Zattoni is a master blender: develops blended spirits using a combination of spirits with different characteristics. Zattoni has worked for the Montenegro Group for 20 years, where he has contributed to preserving and evolving one of the leading brands, that Old Romagna destined to become the best-selling Italian brandy in the world.

«Our first factory was located next to the Bologna train station, then it was bombed during the Second World War” says Zattoni as he walks, and we with him, in the “Brandy Cathedral», as in the factory of San Lazzaro di Savena, just outside Bologna, they call the cellars with the barriques and barrels in which they mature 4 to 5 thousand liters of distillates which, once mixed and aged, will flow into the famous triangular bottle. «The cellars were saved: it was not unusual for the soldiers to go around the city with what was called at the time Coca Buton».

The reference is to Jean Butonmaster distiller of the French Napoleonic court, who in 1820 opened the first Italian steam distillery in Bologna. Just over a century later – in 1939, the year of the outbreak of the Second World War – the cognac Buton became Old Romagna following France’s decision to prohibit the use of the term Cognac outside its boundaries and its specifications.

Tasting of Riserva Tre Botti

Antonio Leggieri

Born in 1866 in Atlanta from an idea by John Pemberton, the inventor of the Coca-Cola formula, that liqueur – parent of the current Vecchia Romagna – was produced using coca leaves. When Buton decided to import the recipe to Italy he mixed it lemon balm, nettle, mugwort, wormwood and a small amount of coca leavesfrom which he eliminated the toxicity through a distillation process, leaving only the aromatic and natural properties in the liqueur.

The old bottles of Coca Buton they have become the stuff of amarcord, preserved (and opened on very special occasions) in the elegant bar cabinets of Bolognese collectors. The brand Old Romagna instead it has evolved: since 1999 it has been part of the Montenegro Groupwhich today has a turnover of 320 million and employs 380 people. The Group, owned by the Seragnoli family, brings together the brands Bitter Montenegro, Select And Pamperoas well as a series of food-related brands, including Tea Infré, Bonomelli And Smell it.

In the brandy cathedral

Inside the «Brandy Cathedral» Zattoni explains the «Old Romagna method». The recipe for the distillate remains – It goes without saying – secret; the three phases underlying the method are, however, well known.

It starts with the distillation of the Trebbiano grapes, in which two different techniques are combined: the discontinuous one – here the wine is distilled in Charentais-type stills: during this phase the heads and tails of the distillate are cut off, collecting in the barrel only a concentration of all the aromas and perfumes of the wine of origin – and it continues: the protagonist here is the steam which distributes the heat evenly, giving the distillate purity and roundness.

Detail of the «Brandy Cathedral»

Antonio Leggieri

The distillate ages in two types of wooden barrels: the barriquessmall French oak barrels where it rests for at least a year, acquiring an intense aroma of dried fruit and vanilla, and the large Slavonian oak barrels where, thanks to a slower exchange with the wood, the distillate retains all the notes of the original wine, becoming elegant and enveloping.

The final step is blending: the aged spirits are selected and combined with each other. The crucial step of this phase is what the experts call marriagethe moment in which the selected brandies come together inside large vats where they are left to rest before bottling.

Soon, they will be built on the 18 hectares of the San Lazzaro di Savena plant new high-tech cellars and one new research area and laboratories. «The technology changes but the wood does not change, the ingredients do not change and the time does not change» explains Zattoni. «In fact, our most important job is to stay here and wait for the years to pass, to hand over to posterity the heritage that our ancestors left us».

The top of the range, and the experiential dinners to prove it

The historic and most nationally popular spirits – Old Classic Romagna and Black Label – have been supported in recent years by two reserves: Vecchia Romagna Riserva Tre Botti – launched in 2019, a blend of spirits aged in three different barrels, which has been available in a new tin pack since last December – and the top of the range Reserve 18: launched in 2021, this blend rests 18 years in oak barrels before being aged in barrels previously used for Amarone della Valpolicella.

In addition to seeking a different target audience, these two reserves are also at the heart of the «Restaurant Project», which will involve 30 venues throughout Italy with experiential dinners in which signature gastronomic pairings and tastings led by Zattoni will alternate. «Today consumers are increasingly looking for taste experiences outside the home» he explains Daniele De AngelisMarketing Core Brands manager of Gruppo Montenegro, «focusing on catering is proving to be a winning choice, combining for the first time the two Riserve Vecchia Romagna with the creations of renowned chefs».

After the inaugural stages – Azzoguidi House in Bologna and the restaurant Gourmet Identities in Milan – the dates will continue with: Ancient Mill (Pernumia, PD); Restaurant Laurin (Bolzano, BZ); Twenty8 (Bari, BA); Casa Vidaschi (Rome, RM); Varnelli Pizzeria Bistrot Restaurant (Pompeii, NA); Chlorophyll Cooking & Spirits (Rome, RM); RAW (Naples, NA); The Gourmet Chalet (San Giovanni Rotondo, FG); The Mosquito (Rome, RM).

One of the pairings proposed at Casa Azzoguidi in Bologna: Vecchia Romagna Riserva Tre Botti with mascarpone and chocolate flakes

Antonio Leggieri