Marchesi di Barolo

8/9/18 -

We read again and again about historic wineries (“the family first made wine there in 22 BCE…”) but for the Marchesi di Barolo it’s no exaggeration. The winery was one of the first recorded to focus on Nebbiolo, and it produced wine called Barolo as early as the 1830s (which is very early for Barolo; the wine was said to be very good.) Owned since the 1920s by the Abbona family, the Marchesi di Barolo is one of the larger producers of the region, and they purchase almost as much fruit as they grow on their own land. The current wines are reasonably priced, and you might say that it’s a case of you get what you pay for. But the old wines can be very good indeed, and while my experience of them is still limited, you get good value at today's prices for aged Nebbiolo, which are creeping ever upwards. It’s true that you need a quorum of enthused friends to handle one of these large bottles (3 liters = 4 bottles in one; 3.78 liters = 5+ bottles in one!), but  barbeque season has time to spare, so it should be easy enough to find the right occasion. In any case there’s no particular rush to drink these historic bottles.