Barolos 'have seen a cultural shift'
More and more barolos are being sold outside Italy as the country's drinking habits change, according to one winemaker.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Pietro Ratti, head of Renato Ratti, said fewer Italians are drinking at lunch and the current trend is for sparkling wines like Champagne or prosecco.
The shift has led to 70 per cent of Mr Ratti's barolos being exported, largely to the US and Scandinavia.
Additionally, Italy's regulations regarding wine are changing - by autumn, single vineyards listed on barolo labels will have to genuinely have come from those locations, while laws were previously less stringent regarding this.
"Until now a producer could put any name on the bottle he liked but the wine might have come from anywhere in the barolo region," he told the news provider.
His late father, Renato Ratti, bought the family's first vineyard in 1965 in the historic location of Marcenasco.