The super valve that saved the bubbles

From a history spanning over seventy years to the electro-pneumatic tap that has revolutionised the world of wine bottling. The protagonist is Gai Macchine Spa of Ceresole Alba, in the province of Cuneo, which is now in its third generation, with Dr Giacomo and engineers Giovanni and Guglielmo. It is the latter who introduces us to the company's history, its highly innovative bottling machines and prospects.

"Gai was founded in 1946 by grandfather Giacomo and grandmother Elsa. Grandfather was a blacksmith but, after the Second World War, he reinvented his trade by running a small restaurant, where he had developed a machine for bottling water and wine. He managed to sell a few of them and from there he decided that this would become the family business.

Since 1972 the company has been run by my father Carlo and my uncle Battista, until 2001 when we sons took over. We are a family business, with one of us in each sector, managing to combine family balance with a managerial imprint. We have a turnover of 75 million euro as a group, 315 employees in Ceresole, 50 in the French branch, which is only commercial and service, and 5 in the US branch, which is only service.

Gai's strong point is the development of the electro-pneumatic tap, which revolutionised the world of wine bottling. "We were born in the world of still wine and our reference sector is that of small to medium-sized machines. The company grew until, around 2008/2009, the major crisis in the sector convinced us that the way to continue growing was to diversify production. Firstly with higher and higher speed machines, and secondly by moving out of our comfort zone of still wine. This is why in 2013 we patented the 'Unica' valve, an electro-pneumatic filling tap that allows both still and sparkling wines to be bottled without compromise. This tap acts as a trait d'union, increasing flexibility in the various solutions, as well as taking special care of the wine, reducing oxidation and making sanitisation operations very easy. We have achieved a result that is highly appreciated all over the world, especially for sparkling wines.

For the Ceresole Alba-based company, it was a fortunate choice. "We were fortunate to arrive with a radical innovation at the time of the development of Prosecco, which is difficult to bottle due to the significant presence of gas and foam that is difficult to deal with when making the level. With this valve, we are not only able to have a yield increase of up to 20 per cent for sparkling wines and make level regulation from 25 to 100 mm flush to the mouth and efficient filling, but also to bottle at room temperature between 15 and 18 degrees instead of 0 degrees, thus allowing significant energy savings, as well as the advantage of keeping the wine in its natural cycle.