Vittorio Vallarino Gancia, former owner of the sparkling wine firm that bore his name, died at the age of 90. He was noted for being the first Italian winery to make an Italian sparkling wine using the so-called "classic technique" or champenoise, the one used for champagne. Vallarino Gancia inherited the firm from his father in 1994 and managed it until it was purchased by the vodka brand Russian Standard in 2010. The manufacturing, however, remained in Italy, and Vallarino Gancia served as honorary president. Vallarino Gancia was also allegedly abducted by the Red Brigades in 1975. The abduction of Vallarino Gancia was the terrorist group's first attempt to raise funds. Within a few hours, the carabinieri had found the location where he had been taken, and to rescue him, there was a gunfight in which a carabinieri member, Giovanni D'Alfonso, and a Red Brigades militant, Mara Cagol, were killed.
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