Whisky - UK (2020-05)

56 Whisky Magazine | Issue 167

O

ne thing immediately

became clear upon

entering the venue: this is

not the launch of just any

old whisky book. Many of

the attendees had realised this as well,

dressing up in full traditional Keepers

‘ˆ–Š‡—ƒ‹…Šƒ––‹”‡Ǥ‘–ƒ„Ž‡•Šƒ†βŽ‘™

in from abroad and it almost felt as if at

least someone should’ve been appointed

designated survivor to safeguard the

whisky industry in case disaster struck.

Instead, all of them had come

together at Scotch Whisky International

(SWI), the Dutch whisky investment

company that bought Valentino

Zagatti’s world famous whisky

collection a few years back for an

—†‹•…Ž‘•‡†„—–•‹‰‹β‹…ƒ–•—Ǥ

The launch of The Unseen Valentino

Zagatti Collection, an impressive and

unparalleled book, is what had lured

them to the headquarters of SWI in

Sassenheim, a small Dutch city not far

from Amsterdam. “I was so incredibly

happy when we bought the collection,”

says Michel Kappen, CEO of SWI. “The

whisky industry knows many reputable

people with funds at their disposal.

I didn’t expect to end up owning this

collection, but at some point it became

clear that I would be able to get

Zagatti’s collection to the Netherlands.”

The collection counts about 3,000

bottles and is currently proudly

displayed in a museum in the

Netherlands, built by SWI. Previously,

the bottles lined the walls of the modest

Italian home of Valentino Zagatti,

who lost his eyesight at age 11 due to

a stray landmine from World War II.

Zagatti started collecting whisky in

1958 from the money he saved after he

quit smoking. “In the decades after the

war Italy became the most important

market for malt whisky,” explains

Šƒ”Ž‡•ƒ…‡ƒǤDzŠ‡β‹”•–™Š‹•›

magazine in the world was published

in Italy in 1986. An entire page was

†‡†‹…ƒ–‡†‹–Š‡β‹”•–‹••—‡–‘–Š‡‘Ž†‡•–

whisky in Zagatti’s collection.”

‘™ƒ†ƒ›•ǡƒˆβŽ—‡–…‘ŽŽ‡…–‘”•ƒ”‡

prepared to pay more than a million

pounds for a single bottle of whisky.

But the main difference between

modern collectors and the early Italian

collectors is that they did not buy

whisky for investment purposes.

Around the turn of the century,

Zagatti released two books about his

collection, both of which turned into

collector’s items themselves. The books

WORDS THIJS KLAVERSTIJN

Whisky royalty gathered in the Netherlands last year for the launch of what is

likely to be the most comprehensive whisky book ever

These pages,

clockwise from top

left picture:

Inside one of the

volumes; The

full collection;

Scotch Whisky

International’s

offices; The whisky

great and good at

the launch.

The unseen collection

also found their way to Michel Kappen.

“When it was still in Italy, I often

visited the collection of Valentino,” says

Kappen. “Comparing the collection to

the books published by Zagatti, I wasn’t

completely convinced that they were

one hundred percent accurate. If we,

as Scotch Whisky International, want

to present one of the oldest whisky

collections to the world, then it needs to

be perfect. That’s why I’ve asked Hans

and Becky Offringa to help. I wanted

every bottle in the Zagatti collection

documented in great detail.”

For Hans and Becky, it turned into the

greatest challenge of their professional

life. It took two years for The Unseen

Valentino Zagatti Collection to come

–‘‰‡–Š‡”ǡ™Š‹…Š…‘•‹•–•‘ˆβ‹˜‡˜‘Ž—‡•

spanning 1,500 pages and weighing

15 kilos. Diageo’s Dr. Nicholas Morgan

said: “The challenge to write a book

like Hans and Becky have done is truly

remarkable. My publisher has given me

three and a half years for the book I’m

currently working on, and even that

feels like a short amount of time. It’s

impressive for Hans and Becky to have

done what they did in just two years.”

The Unseen Valentino Zagatti

Collection is a chronological

Collections Valentino Zagatti

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