Fratelli Gancia was founded in 1865 by Carlo Gancia, the founding father of what is now the Asti DOCG. He spent two years in Champagne with Piper Heidsieck before returning home. He initially tried with red grapes, but this was less of a success in Piedmont than Champagne. He then tried with the local Moscato Bianco, which had produced sweet wines in the area since the 14th century. Stopping the second in-bottle fermentation to leave the wine with the right sweetness meant bottling the wine with a much reduced alcoholic degree, and ironically this enabled the second fermentation to continue far beyond that of Champagne. This caused the bottles to explode. With help from Arnaldo Strucchi, Gancia reduced the nitrogen level pre-bottling via extensive settling and cleansing of the must, and repeated filtration of the wine. Once the yeast’s food source, nitrogen is exhausted the yeast die, and the second fermentation ends. Gancia’s method was achieved in 1865. 

Bibliography

Tom Stevenson, ‘Pure Extravagancia’, Wine Magazine October 1994, p.12