The Winery Azienda Agricola Paolo Giordano of Barolo of Piémont

Springtime brings the so-called ‘Caldaia di Maggio’ to Barolo, a noise similar to a kettle simmering that is caused by evaporating water in the soils. This year, however, it’s unlikely that this phenomenon will occur. Drought is affecting the entire north of Italy; predominantly the Langhe but also Valpolicella and Franciacorta. Not even Tuscany is spared. The vineyards are lacking the reserves of water that their soils usually contain at this time of year. Winter passed without snow in almost a ...

Held in Piedmont on 28 October and also live-streamed in New York, the Barolo 2022 en primeur charity auction saw sales of $769,800. That is up by around $170,000 on last year’s inaugural event, said organisers Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo and Fondazione CRC Donare ETS, working in partnership with the Consorzio di tutela Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe e Dogliani. Final sales were likely to top $800,000, with one final lot to be offered at the international Alba white truffle aucti ...

In what François Poher, director and chairman of the Board of Hospices Civils de Beaune, dubbed ‘historic and spectacular results’, the auction broke other records, including highest ever total for a charity wine auction and record total for any wine auction held by Sotheby’s, according to the auction house that managed the sale. The average price per barrel sold over Sunday’s seven-hour auction also reached a new high, at €35,974 topping last year’s record-setting average price per lot of €34,9 ...