Velier Company

1947-1983 Velier is a traditional small wine and spirits import company founded in Genoa.

1983 Luca Gargano acquires a share in the company. Luca was the Marketing Director in Spirit S.p.a., the most important Italian import company (Ballantine’s, Cointreau, Martell, Beefeater) at a very young age.

1985 Velier focuses on importing top spirits to be sold to top restaurants and wine bars, and develops the image and distribution for Champagne Billecart-Salmon

1988 Velier is the first Italian company to import new world wines from Chile, Argentina, California, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

1991 Velier creates for the first time in Italy a product range covering Latin American White Spirits (Cachaça, Mezcal, Pisco) to be marketed to trendy ethnic cafés and restaurants.

1992 Velier starts to develop co-bottlings with the main producers of single malts and rums.

1994 Velier starts The Movida del Rum in Italy, importing Caribbean rums as Matusalem, Brugal, Cacique.

1996 Velier starts bottling the original Demerara: this range will become a point of reference for collectors.

1999 Velier also becomes the first independent agent for Cuban cigars for the Italian market.

2002 Velier starts importing Absinthe, after a hard quarrel with the Italian Government regarding the reception of the E.U. law.

2003 Velier launches the “Triple A”, the first protocol in the world concerning natural wines. From this moment Velier starts distributing only Triple A wines.

2004 On December, during a trip to Trinidad, Luca unexpectedly discovers an immense stock of Caroni rum, that he decides to bottle at full proof. The Caroni mania is born.

2006 The project to create the best rhum agricole in the world: after a trip in Marie–Galante, Luca and Gianni Capovilla launch the first production of Rhum Rhum.

2009 Velier is appointed as the exclusive importer for the Edrington Group and William Grant & Sons.

2011 Velier becomes the exclusive importer for the SPI Group.

2012 Velier becomes the exclusive importer for a selection of brands from the Brown-Forman group and the Sazerac Company. Luca launches Haitian rums: the Clairin. The Gargano Classification, a new classification of rums based on the various distillation method, comes out.

2016 Velier signs a joint venture with La Maison du Whisky: LM&V, to distribute Velier Brands worldwide. Velier starts the collaboration with Richard Seale of Foursquare Distillery.

2017 Velier issues a mini bond for 6 million euros in the Italian Stock Exchange.

2018 The Distillerie de Port-au-Prince opens the doors in Haiti. The London Stock Exchange includes Velier among the 1.000 top inspiring and fastest growing companies in Europe. Velier becomes the exclusive distributor for Hampden Estate.

2020 Velier has a new Headquarter in Genoa: the “villa”, built in the late 1500s and close to the place where Garibaldi left Genoa to reach Sicily, is the last trace of Mediterranean bush in the city. It is called Villa Nuovo Paradisetto as a tribute to our previous HQ. Velier starts the collaboration with Campari, and bottles for the first time a Pure Single Rum from Appleton Estate.

2021 Velier launches its new website with a specialty magazine featuring weekly articles, interviews, news and detailed reports about our industry. 2021 also sees a new release of the Appleton Hearts Collection, selected from the legendary Appleton Estate stocks by Luca Gargano and Joy Spence in the wake of the huge success garnered by the 2020 releases.

2022 Velier presents a vertical collection of 10 Saint James millésimes, carefully selected to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Martinique AOC. Two projects also kick off: the Magnum Project, which combines the art of distillation with that of photography, and the Nomad Project - the first still in history to travel from island to island to distill rum processed on-site by each distillery. In the same year, Velier and Billecart-Salmon celebrate the 50th anniversary of their partnership.

2023 Velier returns to Identità Golose, Italy's most important and renowned international gastronomy congress. In the same year, the Triple "A" events turn 20 and the "best ever" Triple "A" Live is organised for the occasion. In parallel, Velier brings ecoSPIRITS technology to Italy: an innovative circular distribution system that eliminates the use of disposable glass for spirits. This is also the year of the richest edition of the Roma Bar Show, in which Velier brings forward the concept of Artisan (Re)Evolution: a continuous contamination and dialogue between bartenders, chefs, artisans and artists.