Consider the Langhe Valley area of the Piemonte (Asti, Alba, Bra, Nizza Monferrato, etc.). Great red wines. Wonderful food.

I agree with Jean. Look at 2 places to stay:

Villa Favorita in Alba--more of a B&B
Villa Sampaguita near Asti---agriturismo[ Tim & Rina are great]

Thanks Jean and Bob - I will start by researching back through the threads of information that appear in the Forum.

If you were restricted to two days/nights would you prefer to stay near Alba or Asti for a first visit to Piedmont ?

Alba.

I stayed at Villa Favorita; here iso the resulting report:



http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/le-langhe-and-turin-a-week-in-the-land-of-barolo-bagna-cauda-and-bicerin.cfm

Sadly Favorita has no availability for the nights that we will be there in late September.

Thank you ekscrunchy for your Piemonte masterpiece.

What would be your second choice for three nights in the region of Alba ?

Ca de Re, Sant Eufemia, Corte Gondina, Marcarini agriturismo and others are mentioned.

I am trying very hard to find an extra day in our itinerary.

Some links that may help:

http://traveler.nationalgeographic.com/books-excerpts/langhe-text

http://www.italytraveller.com/en/r/piedmont

Great links and a particular thanks Jean for the driving route map.

There is much to read and so much content and variety in the region of Langhe

Any more thoughts on where to stay in Alba given that Favorita is fully booked ?

I am going to try to turn 2 nights into 3 + days and it would seem that we should focus on the Alba area rather than Asti to reduce the car travel time.

Thanks again for any thoughts/help on this.

We visited the Piemonte several years ago - we only had three nights there - and stayed south of Alba, in the Barolo area. We're big wine buffs, especially DH, so it made more sense for us to stay in the part of Piemonte that we'd primarily be focusing on. We stayed in the little village of Monforte d'Alba, at a B&B called Le Case della Saracca. You can see my gushing review on tripadvisor. Since we stayed there, the owner of the B&B has opened an enoteca, as well.

We did spend some time in Alba, to visit the truffle festival (we were there in October); the distances aren't that far. we didn't stop in Asti at all, so I can't give advice about that area.

Thank you Lexma90.

We are wine tragics and probably enjoy a good barolo more so than a brunello.

Having looked at the wine tour map Jean posted, I can see that Monforte d'Alba is at a great location to venture from.

While relatively small, it appears that a lot of time is required in the region of Langhe.

You probably already know, but the "Barolo towns" are Barolo, La Morra, Castiglione Falletto, Serralunga d'Alba and Monforte d'Alba. And the Barolo region is only about 5 miles wide at its widest, though of course the roads are pretty curvey!

The owner of our B&B was able to set up two visits to vineyards for us. I'm usually not so interested in visits, but these were interesting and fun. We visited Podere Rocche dei Manzoni and Podere Ruggeri Corsini, which I especially liked because it's run by a woman. So if you'd like to do something like that, you'll want to set it up in advance.

We are still searching for the ideal place to stay for two nights.

Le Case della Saracca is indeed very medieval. Is there a favoured room to request, and, are the beds large were my first thoughts ?

There are so many unique and interesting places.

At the very modern end of the spectrum we are tempted by Hotel Villa Beccaris.

The village of Monforte d'Alba looks like a great choice for two nights.

Our journey takes us to many places over seven weeks and given we have only two nights in the region (possibly due to poor planning) we feel that it would be better to stay outside of the larger towns to provide greater reason to return to this region and others in Piemonte for a few weeks.

At least we could focus on barolo for the time we are there.

This winery has the best view in Piemonte and some decent rooms as well. Very close to Serralunga and Barolo.
http://www.rivetto.it/en/the-farmhouse/

Thank you for sharing Rivetto bobthenavigator.

We do not have to do any further research.

It is fortunate that we will be there on a Tuesday and Wednesday night.

Otherwise it would have been difficult to find availability there.

I think I have seen Rivetto wines here in Sydney and will try to find a bottle to share with the Olympics this weekend.

Thanks again.

When we stayed at Le Case, we stayed in one of the two top rooms, that has two levels - the bedroom area on the lower level, and the bathroom and sitting area on the top level; I think it was the almond tree room. Our friends stayed in the other top room, the crystal room. I enjoyed sitting in the window nook in the morning, and watching a cat on the roof of the building opposite. I don't remember what size the beds were - DH and I are both short, so we don't notice bed size much. I would have preferred the Lovers Room, with the suspended bed, but another couple had that one already.

Le Case is about half-way up the hill from the main part of the village; Villa Beccaris is up at the top, if that matters.

Let me know if you'd like restaurant ideas, in Monforte or elsewhere.

Here are some images from that region with the fabulous shots from Rivetto:
http://www.slowphotos.com/photo/showgallery.php?cat=4172&page=2