Following the success of its inaugural event last year, the new Barolo en Primeur sale is back, with a larger catalogue of wines and proceeds going to global charities. Ahead of the auction at Christie’s next week, Laura Broughton reports on how it’s looking, from the glorious Piedmontese hills…
There are many things that bring joy to life – good company, fine wines and helping others, to name just a few. Thanks to some wonderful folk in Italy, Barolo En Primeur, running for its second year combines all of these through an auction of lots of Italy’s most prestigious and collectable wines, with the proceeds supporting charitable causes. To top that, this is an investment opportunity leaving successful bidders with more to gain than just the pleasure of drinking exceptional wine.
Barolo En Primeur is the brainchild of the Cassa del Risparmio di Cuneo Foundation who acquired the esteemed Cascina Gustava vineyard in the Langhe area of Italy in 2019. The trustees of the foundation wanted to find a way to utilise these vineyards for greater good and develop a charity event in which the money from the sale of Barolo produced on the vineyards would benefit both national and international projects.
The protection of this particular vineyard is significant, given that the vines and grounds once belonged to Italian statesman Count Camillo Benso, a leading figure in Italy’s unification movement. The Count of Cavour, or Cavour as he is more generally known, helped forge the Kingdom of Italy and served as the country’s first prime minister, designing the country’s constitutional structure.
Following on from the success of the event in 2021 which raised €660,000 for social causes, there are several new elements to the 2022 auction. This year the event will see the addition of 1,200 bottles donated by over 70 producers of the Barolo and Barbaresco consortium. Ranging in size from classic 750ml bottles to the more generous magnums up to the show-stopping jeroboams, these lots are expected to reach between €2,000 to €18,000.
The bottles will be in addition to the 15 barriques (barrels) of the 2021 vintage, which is already being heralded as an ‘excellent’ year. When the Barolo has completed its ageing process in 2025, each barrique will yield about 300 bottles. In a simultaneous link up with its New York auction house, fourteen of these barriques will be auctioned off on 28 October 2022 through Christie’s at the Castle of Grinzane Cavour, surrounded by the vineyards supplying Barolo En Primeur. A final barrique to be auctioned off during the International Alba White Truffle Fair on November 13, 2022, whose proceeds will go to a Hong Kong based charity, Mother’s Choice.
From gavel to glass, Fondazione CRC President Ezio Raviola with Matteo Ascheri, President of Consorzio Tutela Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe and Dogliani, sat astride the barriques of the new Barolo.
The 2022 bottles will have the added appeal of labels designed by the renowned Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, acclaimed for being the driving force behind the ‘Arte Povera’ movement. Meaning ‘poor or impoverished art’ this was one of the most significant art movements in the 1960’s, well ahead of its time with the use of repurposed materials. Once the wine has matured, all bottles both from the barriques and the producers’ bottles will be delivered to the successful bidders, numbered and labelled with Pistoletto’s work ‘Rose of the Third Paradise 2022’.
“With the 2022 edition of Barolo en primeur,” Ezio Raviola, CRC Foundation President tells me, “the CRC Foundation is reaffirming its commitment to social outreach and support of the wine sector, one of Cuneo’s strategic assets. An inspired idea created a unique combination whereby socially useful projects could come into contact with our territory through one of its best-known products, Barolo”.
It is hoped that Barolo En Primeur will shine a spotlight on the region and help increase awareness of the exceptional food and drink offering. In the months surrounding the auction the region plays host to the SLOW (Seasonal, Local, Organic and Wild) Food Cheese Festival and the Terra Madre Food Festival, again celebrating the SLOW movement by focusing on food politics, sustainable agriculture and the environment. The International Alba White Truffle Fair, where the last barrique is to be auctioned, also draws heavily on the region’s cultural heritage, gastronomy and traditions.
Aside from the Barolo En Primeur Auction, investment has been committed by the Foundation to ensure that the visitors to the region can immerse themselves in the region’s wine heritage. The recent completion of the Belvedere Vigna Gustava, an impressive new viewing-point just a short walk from the Castle of Grinzane Cavour, will enable visitors to learn more about this historic vineyard through informative audio recordings replicating the voice of Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour. All combined, I think the Count would have been more than satisfied with the direction that his historic vineyards are growing towards.
The Barolo en Primeur 2022 auction takes places at Christie’s on 28th October 2022. For more information, including details on how to participate, please visit www.fondazionecrcdonare.it.
