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Barolo & Barbaresco World Opening heads to Hong Kong
The Consortium responsible for Barolo and Barbaresco wines has completed its first campaign in Hong Kong with an event showcasing 42 of the Langhe region’s wines as part of a three-year initiative to promote its wines outside of Europe.
The Barolo & Barbaresco World Opening (BBWO) landed in Hong Kong for the first time this week, with the Consortium for the Protection of Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe and Dogliani presenting an exclusive wine dinner to showcase 42 of the Langhe region’s wines.
Hosted by Consortium President Mr Matteo Ascheri for key wine professionals, collectors and media, the BBWO Hong Kong dinner is part of the Consortium’s three- year ‘Top Tales: A Piece of Europe on Your Table’ initiative to bring southern Piedmont’s winemaking beyond the European continent.
Visiting Hong Kong was a priority this winter, the Consortium said, as part of the promotional tour’s third and final edition, having “successfully embraced the wine connoisseurs of China”, it said in a press release.
The Barolo DOCG and Barbaresco DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) appellations are home to expressions of Piedmont’s native Nebbiolo grape.
The Consortium for the Protection of Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe and Dogliani, which was officially founded in 1934, has long supported the producers of the Langhe’s two most famous reds. It secured DOC status for Barolo and Barbaresco in 1966, and then, in 1980, their elevation to DOCG, the highest classification of wines in Italy.
“We are thrilled to bring BBWO to Hong Kong this year as part of our Greater China tour. The 42 wines from producers large and small, which we are pouring tonight, represent beautiful expressions of Barolo and Barbaresco,” Matteo Ascheri, President of the Consortium, said at the dinner. “These wines offer immense enjoyment all year round, but particularly for Christmas and year-end feasting since they pair so well with traditional European festive dishes like game and other meat but also selected Asian dishes too.”
The China and Hong Kong visits follow on from the third annual charity auction of Barolo en primeur 2023, co-presented by the Consortium and held by Christie’s at one of the region’s mediaeval fortresses, Castello di Grinzane Cavour.
Live-streamed at Christie’s in London and New York, the auction raised a record total of €811,000 (HK$6.8 million) through the sale of 12 barriques of Barolo wine ageing in the barrel – to be bottled, numbered and labelled by artist Otobong Nkanga in 2026 – and 10 communal lots totalling more than 1,300 bottles donated by leading producers in the region.