Barolo Chinato Cappellano
Barolo Chinato Cappellano
Serve at: 14°-16°C
Glass type

Barolo Chinato Cappellano

CAPVIBC
€49.00
Tax included

Wine flavoring is a practice as old as the world. The Egyptians used to mix it with herbs that had healing properties, the Persians with spices and sometimes with Cannabis or poppy. The Romans, on the other hand, liked to flavor it with pine resin, lentisk or myrrh itself, sometimes with honey and rose or violet petals. In this long list, one cannot fail to mention Vermouth, born in Turin in the late 1700s and likely the inspiration for Barolo Chinato.

In short, the originality of my great-great-uncle pharmacist, Giuseppe Cappellano, was not in the idea of flavoring a wine, but in combining a very particular and balanced mix of spices (called "drugs" at the beginning of the century) with an extraordinary wine, Barolo. But why specifically a pharmacist? Because pharmacology at the end of the 19th century was mainly based on herbalism, and it was the pharmacist who had complete knowledge of the therapeutic and organoleptic properties of each spice. Barolo Chinato was thus born as a medicine, proposing as a "medicamentous and antimalarial lure" what was soon to become one of the classics of Italian oenology. so much so that flavored wines were until a few years ago on the lists of some pharmaceutical company distributions.

The effect of all the spices leads to very interesting beneficial effects: the synergy of the elements extracted by maceration in alcohol leads to the development of bitter-tasting active ingredients that stimulate salivary and gastric juice secretion, thus aiding or preparing for digestion.

We speak of recipe and not formula because this great aromatic meditation wine is the child of artisanal wisdom, handed down in our family from generation to generation, which has much to do with knowledge of the land and peasant culture. The procedure for its preparation is well known - cinchona calissaia extract mixed with other aromatic herbs, sugar and alcohol are added to the already aged Barolo - while the list of spices used for flavoring remains secret. After fermentation, the wine undergoes a period of aging in oak barrels, which gives it a unique aromatic complexity and an intense, enveloping taste.

Three Senses
Considered one of the world's best chinati, unique and inimitable. Its taste is intense and spicy, with notes of dried fruit, cocoa and vanilla that blend perfectly with the characteristic aroma of cinchona. It is a wine with incredible and unthinkable pairing capabilities, from the most classic game dishes, cheeses or as a digestif, it is also excellent served on the rocks as a refreshing aperitif. At the end of a meal with dried fruits and desserts it gives its best. The balance of contrasts, taste-olfactory complexity and an interminable persistence make the appeal of a wine as seductive as few others, capable of holding up even one of the almost impossible pairings such as dark chocolate.
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Cappellano

Cappellano

 

"In 1983 I asked the journalist Sheldon Wasserman not to publish scores for my wine. Not only did he not publish the scores in his book “Italian Noble Wines” he also wrote that I had asked not to be in the “classificatios” in which a comparison becomes a divise numerical term rather than expressing shared human toil. I have not changed my mind: my tiny farm producing 20,000 bottles of wine a year interests only a small number of customer­friends. I believe in freedom of information, even if the judgement is negative. I think of my hills as an anarchical arena, with no inquisitors or opposing faction's, whose inner richness is stimulated by severe, thoughtful critics; I strive for a community that can still express solidarity with whoever has not been so well­rewarded by Mother nature.

Wishful thinking? Allow me to dream.


“One has to be a bit crazy to choose to spend their life gazing up to the skies”, as my father used to say hinting at the preoccupations caused by bad weather, which mark the fate of a farmer... actually though, at the bottom of this sentence rightly lies a good dose of romanticism. I am ‒ unfortunately ‒ a romantic like my father and ‒ just like him ‒ I am no doubt a bit crazy.

His passing was an incredible loss and sufferance for all of us and the company. Few were willing to bet that there was a future for us. As it turned out, the sleepless nights mourning on an irrecoverable loss have been my and our strength. We stood still, and we have changed a lot. We brought order to the creative chaos of the genius Baldo; we have systematised, restructured, perfected things. Like my father, I believe that respect and protection of nature and environment make a fundamental difference. I am not compromising on quality when it comes to interventions in the vines or in the cellar, and I consider myself lucky to be able to combine the farmer’s wisdom and the technical and scientific knowledge of organic growing practices. This does not hinder, I believe, the honesty and organoleptic quality: for my challenge is to guide nature, to let nature express herself. I also believe that people always make a difference, that relations have to be cultivated and given proper value. This is a commitment which I owe it to my happiness, to the memory of my father, and to the people around me. Cantina Cappellano is what it is today thanks to my ancestors, and to my father. But also thanks to my friend winemakers who were by my side and supported me when I lost my father. Thanks to my mother who has always been and still is a pillar of the company. Thanks to each and every one of my older and more recent collaborators who believe in and love the philosophy which animates the Cantina Cappellano.

And today, while I grind the spices with the very same tools my great-uncle used, I can call myself proud to hold in my own hands the synthesis of a century and a half of my family’s history."

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