THE 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 estates, the photography, the printing, the design. It supports the quiet, expensive, unhurried work of making something that will last.
In return, depending on your tier, your name is carried permanently in the first edition. You receive signed copies. You are invited into moments that exist outside the book's commercial lifecycle — a private dinner in London, a gathering in the Langhe among the people who are already its heart.
A patron is a believer — present 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
THE PATRON TIERS
‘Nebbia’ Patron
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For anyone who believes the work matters before it is finished.
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1 signed, numbered first-edition copy
Your name in the acknowledgements of the first edition — permanently, and not replicated in future printings
A personal introduction to the other patrons
Simple. Dignified. Permanent.
Limited to 33
For anyone who believes the work matters before it is finished.
You receive:
1 signed, numbered first-edition copy
Your name in the acknowledgements of the first edition — permanently, and not replicated in future printings
Simple. Dignified. Permanent.
‘Foundational’ Patron
-
For those who like to be early, quietly. You make the work possible and are present — by name — in the colophon of the first edition.
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5 signed, numbered first-edition copies
Your name in the colophon of the first edition — the part of the book that records how it was made, not who consumed it
A personal introduction to the other patrons
Early access to the book, two weeks before public release
The first 6 Foundational Patrons also receive two Italesse T-75 Barolo glasses — the glass designed specifically for Nebbiolo
Limited to 22
For those who like to be early, quietly. You make the work possible and are present — by name — in the colophon of the first edition.
You receive:
5 signed, numbered first-edition copies
Your name in the colophon of the first edition
The first 6 Foundational Patrons also receive two Italesse T-75 Barolo glasses — the glass designed specifically for Nebbiolo
‘Sweet Spot’ Patron
-
The name comes from the book. The sweet spot of time is that brief window — after the tannins have softened, before the fruit begins to fade — when Barolo reveals everything it has been quietly becoming.
This tier is for those who want to be present when it opens.
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10 signed, numbered first-edition copies
Your name in the acknowledgements of the first edition
A personal introduction to the other patrons
Early access to the book, two weeks before public release
An invitation to two private dinners — one an intimate introduction to a featured estate and its vignaiolo, one the official book launch dinner. Both include a fireside conversation and a vertical tasting from the estate's cellar. Venue and estate details are shared with confirmed patrons only.
The dinners are not a product. They are a gathering of people who helped bring something into existence.
Limited to 11
The name comes from the book. The sweet spot of time is that brief window — after the tannins have softened, before the fruit begins to fade — when Barolo reveals everything it has been quietly becoming.
This tier is for those who want to be present when it opens.
You receive:
10 signed, numbered first-edition copies
Your name in the acknowledgements of the first edition
An invitation to two private dinners — one an intimate introduction to a featured estate and its vignaiolo, one the official book launch dinner. Both include a fireside conversation and a vertical tasting from the estate's cellar. Venue and estate details are shared with confirmed patrons only.
The dinners are not a product. They are a gathering of people who helped bring something into existence.
ConsiderationA note on the circle itself.
The patrons of this book are not a list. They are a room.
A room of collectors, winemakers, craftspeople, and quiet enthusiasts — people who found this project before it was finished and decided it mattered. Some are in London. Some are in Oslo, in Asia, and in the US. Some are in the Langhe.
What they share is a sensibility. A belief that some things should be slow. That craft outlasts convenience. That a book made this way — without compromise, without a committee — is worth protecting.
When you become a patron, you are introduced, personally, to the others. That introduction is not a newsletter. It is a name and a reason to reach out.
…the network is the return.
How to become a patron
Choose your Patron Tier. 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 in 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.
THE PATRON TIERS
‘Nebbia’ Patron
-
For anyone who believes the work matters before it is finished.
-
1 signed, numbered first-edition copy
Your name in the acknowledgements of the first edition — permanently, and not replicated in future printings
A personal introduction to the other patrons
Simple. Dignified. Permanent.
Limited to 33
For anyone who believes the work matters before it is finished.
You receive:
1 signed, numbered first-edition copy
Your name in the acknowledgements of the first edition — permanently, and not replicated in future printings
Simple. Dignified. Permanent.
‘Foundational’ Patron
-
For those who like to be early, quietly. You make the work possible and are present — by name — in the colophon of the first edition.
-
5 signed, numbered first-edition copies
Your name in the colophon of the first edition — the part of the book that records how it was made, not who consumed it
A personal introduction to the other patrons
Early access to the book, two weeks before public release
The first 6 Foundational Patrons also receive two Italesse T-75 Barolo glasses — the glass designed specifically for Nebbiolo
Limited to 22
For those who like to be early, quietly. You make the work possible and are present — by name — in the colophon of the first edition.
You receive:
5 signed, numbered first-edition copies
Your name in the colophon of the first edition
The first 6 Foundational Patrons also receive two Italesse T-75 Barolo glasses — the glass designed specifically for Nebbiolo
‘Sweet Spot’ Patron
-
The name comes from the book. The sweet spot of time is that brief window — after the tannins have softened, before the fruit begins to fade — when Barolo reveals everything it has been quietly becoming.
This tier is for those who want to be present when it opens.
-
10 signed, numbered first-edition copies
Your name in the acknowledgements of the first edition
A personal introduction to the other patrons
Early access to the book, two weeks before public release
An invitation to two private dinners — one an intimate introduction to a featured estate and its vignaiolo, one the official book launch dinner. Both include a fireside conversation and a vertical tasting from the estate's cellar. Venue and estate details are shared with confirmed patrons only.
The dinners are not a product. They are a gathering of people who helped bring something into existence.
Limited to 11
The name comes from the book. The sweet spot of time is that brief window — after the tannins have softened, before the fruit begins to fade — when Barolo reveals everything it has been quietly becoming.
This tier is for those who want to be present when it opens.
You receive:
10 signed, numbered first-edition copies
Your name in the acknowledgements of the first edition
An invitation to two private dinners — one an intimate introduction to a featured estate and its vignaiolo, one the official book launch dinner. Both include a fireside conversation and a vertical tasting from the estate's cellar. Venue and estate details are shared with confirmed patrons only.
The dinners are not a product. They are a gathering of people who helped bring something into existence.
