December 06, 2011

Altare Tasting Follow-up

After the tasting I asked Silvia about the strange inscription on the 1971 Barolo Riserva Speciale. She didn't know why it said "per Carol Marie Antoinette" on the label, but she promised me to do some research.

1971 Barolo Riserva Speciale "per Carol Marie Antoinette"
Well, tonight Silvia replied that she had solved the mystery. It turns out that in 1971 a man from Torino had a girl. He named her Carol Marie Antoinette and where other fathers buy a doll or some Lego for their newborn, he decided to buy her Barolo. Yes, he must have been a VERY wise man!! He contacted Silvia's grandfather, Giovanni, and asked if could make a special label for his daughter. Giovanni did and it was one of those bottles that we enjoyed on the 18th of November 40 years after the harvest. Anyway, you might wonder how we managed to drink one of these special bottles. This little girl grew up and found out that she didn't like wine, so she contacted the winery, which was now run by Elio, and asked if they wanted to buy back the bottles. Elio decided to do so and that's how the wine ended up at an Altare tasting in Copenhagen 40 years after the grapes were harvested.

What can I say.... First of all thanks to Silvia for following up on the story. Secondly, why didn't my father think like this wise man from Torino :-( and thirdly I'm so happy that this woman, who is now 40 years old, doesn't like wine, because this 1971 Barolo Riserva Speciale was AMAZING and I enjoyed every drop of it!!

2 comments:

  1. Great story! And a great blog you have started!

    Joakim


    http://barolista.blogspot.com/

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  2. Thanks Joakim. I'm still learning how this set-up works, but it is fun. I like your blog as well - good with some attention about Langhe.

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