Piemonte Region, Italy
 

Need help w/trip to Piemonte region in 2006....want to participate in grape crush, hunt for truffles w/locals and have 1 or 2 days cooking instruction. Can anyone recommend a person or company who can arrange this program including recommendation for best towns to do this and hotels. Thanks for any and all help.

topping...

Note to travelnaia - - you needn't write to me to ask an additional question; there are no questions that are "out of line" to ask here, in follow-up.

to better understand "topping"...

see http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34688828

another new registrant, whose question didn't merit attention yesterday...

hello travelnaia, I really can't answer your questions except to say that I believe the people that go out looking for truffles do not wish to share there knowledge with anyone else. At least that is what my friends in Italy have always told me. Sort of like a "state secret".

Grape crush, well with so many very large wineries I don't think (but maybe I am wrong) that they want tourist involved. Wine making is a big business in Italy as it is elsewhere. If there are a few places that allow tourist to be involved with the crushing of grapes I imagine you can find that information on Google but I don't personally think you will. Cooking classes should be easy to find. I suggest that you go onto Google, that will no doubt lead you to some good information. Mangia!

Hello rex, what exactly do you mean by "another new registrant, whose question didn't merit attention yesterday..."

I was on Fodor's yesterday. I sure didn't see travelnaia thread. Maybe because Fodor's has not been working properly as of late?

I would like to mention since it seems that some people on Fodor's are emailing you direct and this is a problem for you that you can have your email removed from Fodors. That will take care of the problem.

<<...since it seems that some people on Fodor's are emailing you direct and this is a problem for you that you can have your email removed from Fodors...>>

I never consider it a problem for <u>me</u> to get a private e-mail <i>off</i> the forum. I consider it a problem for the forum... private answers to private questions help one person. PUBLIC answers to PUBLICly asked questions help many. That's how the forum works.

travelnaia e-mailed me to ask what &quot;topping&quot; means. I answered her here, and e-mailed her back and directed her to the URL of this thread.

Thanks for your interest... and for re-topping this thread.

Now... if someone could just help get her some answers! It doesn't seem to be &quot;Urgent&quot; enough. There was a question recently about festivals revolving around truffles. I'll see if I can find it (travelnaia will wonder why not simply &quot;search&quot; for it - - that simply doesn't function at all, for anything posted in the past six months).

OK Rex, I got the impression that personal emails to you were a problem for you. Evidently they are not. I agree completely, when people want to email privately it does take away from the &quot;sharing&quot; of information which is what Fodor's is all about. Unless the messages are of a personal nature it is best to post travel information on this Board.

Regarding Truffle hunting. I only know what my friends in Italy have told me. But I just went onto Google and typed in &quot;Truffle Hunting in Piedmont, Italy&quot; There are some websites. The first one was written by a person who was priviledged to particapate in this activity. It was stated that the truffle hunting in Piedmont is a secret and sacred activity. Just exactly what I have been told. So I doubt that an average traveller to Italy would be able to participate without knowing some insider.

I do know even in Veneto that &quot;mushroom hunting&quot; is rather a secret adventure which I have been blessed to be part of. Italians know where to find fantastic mushrooms but do not want to share their knowledge with everyone, or to put it more bluntly with anyone except close family members of very close friends.

I don't quite understand what you mean by &quot;urgent&quot; enough but I sure understand what you mean regarding the Fodor's search engine not working properly. Take care.

Okay, my last post, and then tomorrow is another day (and likely, a busy one)...

Here is that recent truffles thread...

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34685186

Hi - getting this back to the top for you. I have no personal recommendations but I also did some searches on google for cooking schools and got many hits.

Maybe you found this site already:
http://www.regione.piemonte.it/lingue/english/index.htm

One of the foremost Italian wine purveyors in the US is in NYC, Italian Wine Merchants www.italianwinemerchant.com. I know the guys there and I'm reasonably sure that if you call them, they could hook you up to a spectacular wine tour.

Hello travelnaia, I thought of you this morning when I read an article about attending and participitating in a grape crush in Portugal.

Go to the SF Chronical's website which is: www.sfgate.com. Upper left hand corner of screen click on &quot;Todays Chronical. Then scroll down and click on &quot;Travel&quot;. There is a great article there which you will no doubt enjoy, it should give you a chuckle or two.

It will be very difficult to convine a commercial &quot;live&quot; wineproducer to offer tourists active participation during one of the busiest times in the winemaking process.

Having been personal guests by some producers in the Piedmont region, it is obvious that these people take their livelihood very seriously and most are so overly passionate about their craft that having tourists milling around as they conduct some of the most physical aspect of their business becomes bothersome.

Perhaps I've overstated my point, but when you asked to participate in grape crush, did you mean stomping on the grapes with your feet?

Thanks so much for your responses. I will contact all recommendations, and, I have read the SFO Chronicle article on stomping grapes in Portugal. In fact, we visited a winery in Porto, just after the crush, and got a tour of their &quot;cement squares&quot; where grapes are crushed - and yes, I would love to do that, if allowed. I was hoping there would be an &quot;event&quot; where I could harvest the grapes and then participate in the &quot;festa&quot; afterwards....maybe even help to cook for the &quot;festa&quot; (as tho I were part of the &quot;famiglia&quot;) - that's what I'm trying to accomplish on this trip. Is this do-able?