“Barolo en Primeur”: 600.000 euros raised at the auction of great wines for solidarity

The prestige of one of the most famous wines in the world, paired with a high-level wine project combining history, modernity, and solidarity. These are the ingredients of pre-announced success; that is, the first edition of “Barolo en Primeur”. Barolo was auctioned, still in the cask, with grapes from the historic Vigna Gustava del Castello di Grinzane Cavour, zoned and vinified at the Enosis Meraviglia Center by the oenologist and wine scientist, Donato Lanati. At the end of the day, the auction raised 600.000 euros - an average price of 125 euros per bottle - sold to an international audience of bidders directly connected to New York. The auction supported 14 solidarity projects, which were paired to 14 barriques of Barolo Gustava 2020 vintage, as the event promoted by the Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo Foundation, in collaboration with the CRC Donare Foundation and the Consortium for the Protection of Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe and Dogliani, had established. The auction event was held on October 30th at the Castle of Grinzane Cavour. The most generous donation was made to the Adas Foundation, which offers pain therapies, psychological support and palliative care at home, for the amount of 50.000 euros donated by the AGC Glass Europe of Cuneo. The project was paired to barrique number 1, which Antonio Galloni, the internationally renowned critic, a great connoisseur of the Langhe as well as the founder of Vinous, and partner of the event, defined "one of the most interesting wines in this auction, a very classic Barolo from the Grinzane area, played on spicy floral aspects, red berry fruits with medium-bodied structure, beautiful energy and tone”. However, the event’s record donation was the tonneau of Barolo (Barolo of the Municipality of Grinzane Cavour), added at the end of the auction by the Vice President of the CRC Foundation, Ezio Raviola. The tonneau, which is equivalent to 600 bottles of wine, was sold for the extraordinary amount of 140.000 euros.
The patroness of the event was Evelina Christillin, president of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities Foundation in Turin and former president of ENIT, led by Valeria Ciardiello, a journalist who has been involved for years in issues related to the theme of Corporate Social Responsibility. Cristiano De Lorenzo, director of Christie's Italy, was the auctioneer.
The offers for the fifteenth and last charity project will, however, be collected on November 14th at the Alba White Truffle World Auction, once again held at the Castle of Grinzane Cavour in live streaming with Hong Kong. The proceeds will be donated to the international charity, “Mother’s Choice”, which has been working since 1987 in favor of orphaned children and young mothers in difficulty.
“The success of Barolo en Primeur”, commented Ezio Raviola, vice president of the Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo Foundation, “ is a source of great satisfaction for the CRC Foundation. Thanks to teamwork on our territory, which involved ambassadors of wine and art of high value. We have built a unique initiative, which links an internationally renowned product like Barolo, to projects of important social value. Starting today, we are projecting the 2022 edition, and our aim is to introduce innovations that will further enrich this initiative”.
“The charity event, Barolo en Primeur, made possible thanks to the CRC Foundation’s exceptional project”, added Matteo Ascheri, president of the Barolo Barbaresco Langhe Alba Dogliani Consortium, “was a fundamental starting point for the definitive consecration of the Barolo appellation on the world stage. Barolo is highly valued and well known all over the world thanks to the incessant work of its producers, and was donated for the first time in Italy, in the “en primeur” mode. As a Consortium, we will undertake to involve the producers of the Langhe for the next edition of Barolo en Primeur, to make it grow even more on the international scene”.
Finally, the project was promoted not only in Italy but also in the United States, Germany, Switzerland and England in collaboration with the Langhe Monferrato Roero Tourism Authority, which, in September 2022, will organize the “Global Conference in Wine Tourism”, the wine world tourism forum.
It is the success of an event that for the first time in our country has combined the prestige of Italian wine to solidarity and the en primeur method. The event also involved some of the top personalities of the world of international enology, such as the Enosis Meraviglia Laboratory of Donato Lanati - who were entrusted with the entire winemaking process - and Antonio Galloni, connected in New York. An NFT (Non Fungible Token), a digital certificate of authenticity guaranteed via blockchain was attached to each barrel.
Barolo en primeur, as organizers have reiterated, will do a repeat performance next year, and the following, including the personal intervention of the producers, and is ready to become a not-to-be- missed international event for enthusiasts, collectors and benefactors.
At the end of the mandatory aging period starting from January 2024, 300 bottles from the donated barriques will be obtained, which will be numbered and dressed with a label created exclusively by Giuseppe Penone. The work of art of the Italian artist and sculptor is the unpublished drawing of a vine leaf (vegetable) joined to the hand (human), a visual synthesis that expresses the intimate bond between the wine and its producer, suggesting the elements that are fundamental to create quality: intelligence, courage and love. Or, in other words: culture, work and creativity.
The beneficiaries of “Barolo en Primeur” included: the education project through the art and research of gender equality in China of the East-West Philanthropic Forum (EWPF), the intercultural collaboration platform on themes of climate change, conservation, sustainability, education, female leadership; the project of approaching contemporary art and sustainability for children and families promoted by the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art; the restoration and enhancement project of the 1600 Cantinone of Villa Arconati, near Milan, by the Augusto Rancilio Foundation, an institution of study and research purposes in the fields of Architecture and Design; the project for the promotion and recovery of knowledge and the landscape of the Alta Langa, of the Alta Langa Cultural Park, a non-profit organization for the promotion of the Alta Langa aimed at the socio-economic, cultural and touristic development of the area, and the Thesaurus Monviso project that intends to systematize the commitment of young people in the socio-cultural and environmental field in the territory of the Monviso Valleys created by the b612lab Association of Saluzzo, an international organization for the promotion of youth policies, and Opera Pio Barolo for the restoration of Palazzo Barolo, and finally, the Provincial Coordination of Civil Protection.