Barolo Chinato

Grape varieties: Nebbiolo, Herbs, Spices, Alcohol

Giving shape to a duration is the need of beauty, but also of memory (Milan Kundera).

It was the closing of 1870 when Giuseppe Cappellano, pharmacist in Serralunga d’Alba with a shop in Turin, perfected the original recipe of Barolo Chinato marketing it as a “medicinal and anti-malaric liniment” what would shortly after become one of the classics of Italian oenology. We talk of recipe and not of formula because this great aromatic wine for meditation is born out of artisanal wisdom, handed down through the Cappellano family generation after generation. This wisdom has much in common with knowledge of the land and rural culture. The preparation is well-known ‒ the extract of china calissaia mixed with other aromatic herbs, sugar, and alcohol is added to the aged Barolo ‒ the list of spices used for the aroma is secret. The equilibrium of contrasts, the gusto-olfactive complexity, and an endless persistence constitute the charm of a wine which is seductive as few others, capable of sustaining the nigh-impossible match with dark chocolate.