Marchesi di Barolo

A historic winery facing Barolo castle, on the village's Via Roma. It opens its cellars to visits and tastings every day by reservation.

A winery with two centuries of history

Marchesi di Barolo occupies the historic cellars at Via Roma 1, in the centre of Barolo, beside the marquises' castle. The house maintains that Barolo wine was born here in the nineteenth century and sums it up with the motto "il Re dei Vini è nato qui". The story told on its website begins with Carlo Tancredi Falletti, Marquis of Barolo, and his French wife, Juliette Colbert, who married at Versailles in 1806. Around 1814 they settled in Turin and she, by then Giulia, saw the potential of the nebbiolo of these hills. She had the Cascina del Pilone extended with underground cellars and large oak barrels, so that the wine would ferment to the end and last the years. According to the winery, Giulia gave King Carlo Alberto some 325 barrels, one for each day of the year except Lent. Hence the phrase "the king of wines, the wine of kings". On her death, in 1864, she left her property, cellars included, to the Opera Pia Barolo, the charity she had founded.

In 1929 Pietro Abbona bought the marquises' cellars with his siblings Ernesto, Marina and Celestina. The Abbona family already made wine in Barolo and had won medals in 1901 and 1911. Since then the house has remained in the hands of the same family, which speaks of six generations in the wines of the Langhe. In 2016 and 2022 it bought two more estates: Cascina Bruciata, in Barbaresco, and Cascina Colombera, in Perno.

What wines it makes

The centre of everything is Barolo. The winery also makes Barbaresco, Barbera, Nebbiolo, Dolcetto and other Langhe wines. The house is part of the Strada del Barolo, the area's wine route. The wines can be bought in the winery shop and in its online shop.

Visits, hours and booking

The cellars are open every day from 10:30 to 18:00. The visits tour the historic cellars and are accompanied by a tasting. The specific tours and their price are in the visit listings on this page. The winery's website does not openly publish the length, the number of wines or the rates of each visit; they appear only in its booking system. Booking is done in three ways:

• online, from the "Prenota la tua visita" button on the website;
• by phone, on +39 0173 564419;
• by email, at [email protected].

The website does not detail the cancellation conditions or a minimum age. As these are wine tastings, normally only adults drink; it is worth asking when booking if you go with children.

Languages and how to get there

The website is in Italian and English, and there is no Spanish version. When booking you can ask whether the visit is held in another language. The winery is in the very heart of Barolo, about 13 km from Alba by road. You park in the car parks at the entrance to the village and walk in a few minutes to Via Roma. That way the visit combines easily with the marquises' castle, which is next door and houses the WiMu wine museum.