The familiar wine club is a subscription: a case that arrives each quarter, chosen by someone else. Piedmont’s oldest houses have never sold their best wine that way. They sell it by allocation and by relationship, and they keep the rest in the cellar. This autumn one of them turns that relationship into a membership. Scarpa, founded in Nizza Monferrato in 1900, is opening Scarpa 1900, a private members’ club built around access to its cellars, its Caveau of historical vintages, and the people who make the wine.
What is Scarpa 1900?
Scarpa 1900 is a private members’ club created by Antica Casa Vinicola Scarpa, the Piedmont house founded in 1900 and owned by Monaco-based Evgeny Strzhalkovskiy. Membership begins with a personal concierge rather than a sign-up form. The first intake is deliberately small, a closed cohort admitted before the club opens more widely in October.
“We already sell most of our wine to people we know,” Strzhalkovskiy says. “Scarpa 1900 makes that relationship formal. It is membership of a cellar, not a subscription to a case.”
What is the Scarpa Caveau?
The Caveau is the library of historical vintages held at Scarpa’s original 1900 cellars in Nizza Monferrato, and it sits at the centre of the membership. Members reach it through the working barrel rooms, past the Wine Lounge and the Scarpa Gallery, to taste older vintages that rarely leave the house: vertical selections of La Bogliona, Barolo and Barbaresco, large formats and private allocations. Some releases are reserved for members alone, including the limited-edition Black Collection and previews of wines still in barrel.
“The Caveau is where the house keeps its evidence,” Strzhalkovskiy says. “Most of it has never been for sale. Membership is how we open it.”
A concierge, not a subscription
At the heart of Scarpa 1900 is a personal concierge rather than a mailing list. The concierge builds a relationship with each member and works from what they learn: a private stay at the Scarpa Villas among the Monvigliero vines, a rare release secured, an itinerary planned through the Langhe and Monferrato or further afield. The club’s measure of success is simple: each member should feel genuinely known.
“A subscription treats every member the same,” Strzhalkovskiy says. “A concierge begins by learning who you are. That is the difference we are offering.”
Why open during harvest and truffle season?
Scarpa 1900 opens as Piedmont enters its richest weeks. October brings the close of the Nebbiolo harvest and the height of the Alba white truffle season. The first members are invited into both: private stays at the Scarpa Villas, truffle hunting with local experts, private-chef dinners and drives through the Langhe vineyards. The timing is deliberate. The club opens when Piedmont is at its most compelling.
“We are opening with a small group, on purpose,” Strzhalkovskiy says. “A club like this is judged by how well each member is looked after, not by how many there are.”
Membership opens by invitation from October, one cohort at a time.
