2023 Barolo en Primeur Charity Auction

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | OCTOBER 23, 2023

I was delighted to taste the single-barrel 2022 Barolos on offer at the 2023 Barolo en Primeur Charity Auction, which will be held simultaneously in New York City, London and Grinzane Cavour on Friday, October 27 at 12pm New York time, 5pm London time and 6pm Piedmont time. This is a rare opportunity to acquire 2022 Barolo ahead of release. In addition to the barrel wines, the auction also includes lots from various producers, organized by village. All the wines will be adorned with special labels designed by artist Otobong Nkanga. Donations from barrel lots will be directed to various charities (as described below), while proceeds from the village lots will go to the Oenological School of Alba.

This year’s Barolo en Primeur Charity Auction is being led jointly by the Consorzio of Barolo, Barbaresco, Alba, Langhe and Dogliani and the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo (Fondazione CRC), Italy’s 8th largest foundation, with assets of €1.6B. Christie’s is the official auctioneer. The contributions from the first two editions amount to nearly €1.5 million.

Registration is now open to bid online during the live auction. There are three types of lots:

1) Six barrels of the Gustava Barolo (notes below) for which winning bidders are able to designate their charity of choice.

2) Five barrels of the Gustava Barolo (notes below) for which the charity has already been designated. (One barrel will be auctioned at the Fiera del Tartufo Auction on November 12, 2023.)

In each case, winners of the Gustava barrels will be able to specify bottle sizes in due course and have the option to remit payment directly to the Foundation or the charities of choice.

3) Ten village lots, which comprise various wines in a range of formats from producers from each of the respective areas. Winning bidders of the village lots remit payment directly to the Foundation.

Vinous readers who intend on bidding on the lots and would like to attend the live auction, to be held at the Christie’s office in New York, can request to join in person by sending us an email at events+charity@vinous.com. Please note seating is extremely limited.