At an auction of rare Italian wines held yesterday at Bolaffi in Turin, a buyer paid €17,500 (with fees) for an 11-bottle lot of Bruno Giacosa 1971 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione Falletto (Red Label), a potentially record price for Italian wine at auction.

According to a blog post published today by Slow Wine editor Giancarlo Gariglio, the wines were included in a selection of 579 lots from the private cellar of Italian food and wine writer Luigi Veronelli (1926-2004), who has been called “one of the architects of Italy’s current food and wine renaissance.”

At €1,590 per bottle, the sale (when adjusted for the current exchange rate) could top the $1,680 paid for a bottle of Giacomo Conterno 1961 Barolo Monfortino in 2009, an auction price considered by wine trade observers to be the highest ever paid at the time for a single bottle of Italian wine.

Slow Wine was an official co-presenter of the auction, which netted €922,000, noted Gariglio, a record for the auction house.

“We finally have our Henri Jayer!” he wrote with unabashed pride.

Label images via FineWineGeek.com.