Grignolino and the traditional method In 1784 there appeared in Turin, at the printing house of the Reycends Brothers, a work signed with a pseudonym. It is the book « »¹ by the Chevalier De Plaigne. We do not know much more about the author than the fact that he participated in the founding of the Academy of Agriculture, that he was a Frenchman stationed in Turin and that he dealt with (we do not know in what precise role) the production of wines on the Turin hills. « » is a detailed work, which aimed to explain the way to plant vineyards, to cultivate them, to make wine, to preserve it in barrels and to prepare it in such a way as to keep it healthy and suitable for long conservation. In this text appears a first very quick advice for making white wines sparkle. According to Chevalier De Plaigne there was nothing easier than making white wine sparkle: 2–4 hours before putting it into bottles, one must put powdered candied sugar in the proportion of a two-inch piece (about 5 cm) for a quantity of five « » of wine. One can hypothesize that a compact piece of sugar of these dimensions corresponds to 200 grams. Therefore, it is this quantity of sugar that De Plaigne suggested using for 205 liters of wine. However, this is a decidedly low dose, certainly insufficient to make a wine sparkle. Only other advice: bottle at the spring equinox. Le vigneron piémontais Le vigneron piémontais brente ¹. by Chevalier de Plaigne, Les frères Reycends, 1784, at Le vigneron Piémontais contenant la maniere de planter les vignes, de les cultiver, de faire le vin, de le traiter dans les tonneaux, et de le préparer de la façon la plus propre a le conserver, et a le rendre sain. Ouvrage également utile a l'Italie https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd9t2413287-3/fS8.item