Berta Oltre il Vallo 3YO 43%

Paolo Berta and his wife Lidia opened Distilleria Berta in 1947 on the ground floor of their home in Nizza Monferrato, Piedmont. The Berta family had been involved in Piedmontese wine-growing since the late 1800s — Paolo's grandfather Francesco was a landowner and winegrower born in 1866 — but Distilleria Berta was the first formal commercial venture under the family name. Paolo's distinguishing technical contribution was being the first Italian distiller to commercially age grappa in wooden barrels, a method that lifted grappa from neutral spirit into something with structure and oxidative character; the technique is now standard for the category's top tier.

In 2002 the distillery relocated to Casalotto di Mombaruzzo, deeper into the Monferrato hills and closer to the family's original land. The current range covers more than thirty grappa expressions — single-varietal (Moscato, Barbera, Chardonnay, Nebbiolo), multi-vintage and barrel-aged blends, plus the Roccanivo, Tre Soli Tre and Bric del Gaian Reserve cuvées — and seven herbal liqueurs. Production scale is mid-tier: the house exports widely and is one of Italy's larger Italian-grappa names.