Borgogno No Name 'Etichetta di Protesta' Nebbiolo
ITALY
Description
The Barolo that could not be called Barolo. Borgogno decided that if it couldn't be called Barolo it would have no name at all.
Wineries from throughout the EU, particularly ones from the most esteemed growing areas like Barolo, must provide samples of their wine to be vetted and then signed off on by the country’s wine certification authorities, as required by law. This bureaucratic assessment ensures that the wine is true to the definition and style of a particular wine, in this case, Barolo. Borgogno submitted two samples of their 2005 vintage Barolo made at exactly the same time, from the same grapes, in exactly the same way. The only difference is that the samples came from two different storage tanks. One sample got the stamp of approval to be deemed Barolo, the other, well . . . didn’t get approved due to the hue not meeting Barolo standards and was to be sold as a DOC Langhe Nebbiolo, a major economic downgrade. Incensed and outraged, they bottled it anyway and called the wine “No Name” in protest of the bureaucratic meddling. This is a reminder that it is what’s inside the bottle that counts, not the label on the front.
