Barolo historical timeline

Barolo's history is a village history until the 19th century and an appellation history after it, and the second is what the world knows.

1. Middle Ages — the castle is built above what becomes the village, in the hands of the Falletti family whose name it still carries. The precise construction date is not recorded in the sources available here, and this page does not invent one.
2. 19th century — Barolo acquires its reputation as a dry red of the first rank, becoming the wine of kings, the king of wines through its favour among the nobility of Turin and the ruling House of Savoy. This is the period in which the modern wine takes shape.
3. 1966 — Barolo becomes a DOC.
4. 1980 — Barolo is raised to DOCG, Italy's highest wine classification. The rules fix what the name means: 100% Nebbiolo, at least 36 months of ageing after harvest, at least 18 of them in wood, five years for a Riserva.
5. mid-1990s — the appellation is producing about 7 million bottles a year. The wealth visible in these hills today dates from this period onwards, not from the castle.
6. mid-2000s — production has reached 10.25 million bottles, and the price has risen with it.
7. 2004 — roughly 1,734 hectares are under vine across the eleven communes of the zone.
8. 22 June 2014 — UNESCO inscribes the Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato. The Langa of Barolo is one of three Langhe components, with the Hills of Barbaresco and the castle of Grinzane Cavour.