THE CAVALIERI PATRON CIRCLE
Some books are built by publishers. This one is being built by people.
Barolo: The Sweet Spot of Time is a large-format, philosophical coffee-table book
335 pages, 260 original photographs, 33 estates — built around a single conviction: that patience is not a strategy; it is a way of life.
The book is 85% written, but much more work remains before it is complete. A small circle of patrons is helping bring it across the line.
Your name belongs there when it arrives.
What a Patron Actually Is
The word patron comes from the Latin pater — father, protector, one who stands behind something and makes it possible.
The patron does not direct. The patron does not own. The patron trusts.
In the Renaissance, patrons made possible the work that outlived everyone — the commissions, the frescoes, the manuscripts copied by candlelight in stone rooms. They understood that some things cannot exist without someone choosing to protect the conditions in which they grow. Time. Silence. Resources.
Freedom from compromise.
Being a patron of this book means choosing to be part of that tradition. Your contribution goes directly into the work — the travel to the estates, the photography, the printing, the design. It supports the quiet, expensive, unhurried work of making something that will last.
In return, your name is carried permanently in the first edition. You receive a signed copy, before anyone else. You are invited into moments that exist outside the book's lifecycle — a gathering in the Langhe among the people who are already its heart.
A patron is a believer — at the beginning, when the outcome is still being earned.
This book exists outside the normal machinery of publishing — deliberately.
No advance, no committee, no compromise on format, length, or depth. That independence comes at a cost, and that cost is covered by people who believe the work is worth doing before they can hold it in their hands.
In return, patrons receive what no bookshop will ever offer: a signed, numbered first-edition copy, a permanent place in the acknowledgements, and the knowledge that without them, this particular book — made this particular way — would not exist.
The first edition retails at €125*. Patron copies are signed, numbered, and not available through any other channel.
*expected initial RRP
Why patrons
Cavalieri Patron
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1 signed first-edition copy of ‘The Sweet Spot of Time’ in the Cavalieri Edition — distinguished by a custom wraparound band bearing the Order's crest and edition number, issued exclusively to members
Your name, permanently printed on the Cavalieri del Tartufo Patrons page of the first edition, present in every copy, in every library, on every shelf, for as long as the book exists
The distinction of being among the first people in the world to hold the finished book, months before its global release.
Open
Every member of the Ordine dei Cavalieri del Tartufo e dei Vini di Alba is invited to become a patron of the work.
1 signed first-edition copy of ‘The Sweet Spot of Time’ in the Cavalieri Edition — distinguished by a custom wraparound band bearing the Order's crest and edition number, issued exclusively to members
Your name, permanently printed on the Cavalieri del Tartufo Patrons page of the first edition, present in every copy, in every library, on every shelf, for as long as the book exists
The distinction of being among the first people in the world to hold the finished book, months before its global release
The Ordine dei Cavalieri del Tartufo e dei Vini di Alba is acknowledged as a Cultural Patron of the Work in the colophon of the first edition, a permanent, printed recognition in every copy printed, in both languages, in both editions.
How to become a patron
To become a Patron is a choice of belief. Payment is handled securely through Stripe. Once confirmed, you will receive a personal note from me and, where relevant, details of dinners, estates, and dates.
There are no invoices. No committees. Just a direct relationship between the work and the people who made it possible.
Thank you!
Questions: barolo@arnteriksen.com
What Belonging Means
When I stood in the Borgogno cellars in 2017, tasting wine from a barrel already more than a century old, the guide poured the 1981 vintage and told me to wait. Pazienza, he said. We let it breathe for ninety minutes before we touched it. What opened was extraordinary — time made liquid. Soil. Memory. The accumulated care of people I would never meet.
That bottle did not belong to me.
But I belonged to it. To what it represented.
To the value system encoded in its making.
That is what belonging means here. To be named in this book is to declare — quietly, permanently, in the physical object itself — that you hold these values. That you understand pazienza. That you believe legacy outlives accessibility. That craft is worth protecting. That some things must be slow, or they cannot be themselves at all.
The Patron Circle is not a list of donors. It is a record of the people who were present before the fog lifted — who believed in what was hidden before it was revealed. When this book sits on a shelf fifty years from now, those names will still be there. Still part of the making.
Still inside the sweet spot of time.
“A long love letter to the region — the people, place, passion, and pleasures of Langhe.”
— Daniel PYour questions,
answered
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Patron copies are delivered 2 weeks prior to publication — 2027.
You will be notified directly as the date approaches, and your copy will be dispatched before general retail availability.
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Each patron copy is hand-signed by the author and carries a unique edition number. The numbering is sequential and reflects the order in which patrons confirmed. Lower numbers go to earlier patrons.
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No. Patron acknowledgements appear only in the first edition. They will not be replicated in any subsequent printing. That is deliberate — and it is part of what makes the acknowledgement mean something.
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Yes. Contact barolo@arnteriksen.com with the recipient's name and any personal note you would like included. Once you’ve committed to the Patron tier you’d like to give.
The acknowledgement, certificate, and correspondence will be issued in their name.
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No. This is a direct patronage of an independent creative work, not a charitable donation.
You are supporting the making of a book, and in return you receive something of lasting value.
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Publishing timelines shift. If the date moves, every patron will be notified immediately and directly.
Your contribution funds the work itself — it is not contingent on a fixed delivery date.
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Write to barolo@arnteriksen.com.
You will receive a personal reply.
Cavalieri Patron
-
1 signed first-edition copy of ‘The Sweet Spot of Time’ in the Cavalieri Edition — distinguished by a custom wraparound band bearing the Order's crest and edition number, issued exclusively to members
Your name, permanently printed on the Cavalieri del Tartufo Patrons page of the first edition, present in every copy, in every library, on every shelf, for as long as the book exists
The distinction of being among the first people in the world to hold the finished book, months before its global release.
Open
Every member of the Ordine dei Cavalieri del Tartufo e dei Vini di Alba is invited to become a patron of the work.
1 signed first-edition copy of ‘The Sweet Spot of Time’ in the Cavalieri Edition — distinguished by a custom wraparound band bearing the Order's crest and edition number, issued exclusively to members
Your name, permanently printed on the Cavalieri del Tartufo Patrons page of the first edition, present in every copy, in every library, on every shelf, for as long as the book exists
The distinction of being among the first people in the world to hold the finished book, months before its global release
The Ordine dei Cavalieri del Tartufo e dei Vini di Alba is acknowledged as a Cultural Patron of the Work in the colophon of the first edition, a permanent, printed recognition in every copy printed, in both languages, in both editions.
