Truffles, Tajarin & Turin…Two weeks in the Piemonte Region of Italy
Dec 19th, 2014, 12:09 PM
#61
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annhig...
From the Bluone Tours website, this is what the 2015 tour rate is:
Price per person
Euros 2700 - Single Supplement Euros 270
Included in the price:
• 1 night in charming 4 star hotel in Torino center with breakfast
• 5 nights in lovely Relais with breakfast
regional wines, mineral water and coffee included
• 10 meals with selected regional wines, mineral water, digestive and coffee
• guided visit of Torino (Turin) with English speaking guide
• 6 winery visits
• 6 wine tastings
• torrone (nougat) factory visit and tasting
• truffle hunting experience with the "trifulao" and truffle dog
• private transportation during all the excursions and visits
• tour director English speaking throughout
From the Bluone Tours website, this is what the 2015 tour rate is:
Price per person
Euros 2700 - Single Supplement Euros 270
Included in the price:
• 1 night in charming 4 star hotel in Torino center with breakfast
• 5 nights in lovely Relais with breakfast
regional wines, mineral water and coffee included
• 10 meals with selected regional wines, mineral water, digestive and coffee
• guided visit of Torino (Turin) with English speaking guide
• 6 winery visits
• 6 wine tastings
• torrone (nougat) factory visit and tasting
• truffle hunting experience with the "trifulao" and truffle dog
• private transportation during all the excursions and visits
• tour director English speaking throughout
Dec 19th, 2014, 12:18 PM
#62
mm - that's quite pricey for a week for 2 - even all in. we're looking at 3 weeks in Cuba that will probably cost less than that. [i know that I'm comparing apples and pears, but still].
but the main thing is that it worked for you and your mum, which it clearly did.
but the main thing is that it worked for you and your mum, which it clearly did.
Dec 19th, 2014, 12:42 PM
#63
annhig, if you were from the USA like LCI and me, you'd be paying many times more that for a trip to Cuba... I recently paid USD $ 5000 to go to Cuba with a group from a large state university. I have waited 15 years for that trip, finally gave in and paid that way overpriced amount. No choice and it was worth every penny.
LCI, I find the tour reasonable as it almost a private tour and am happy to have their contact info. You have helped us with our upcoming three week trip to Sicily and now for a return to Piemonte or other winery tour locations in Italy. Thanks so much. Your trip reports are a joy to read!
LCI, I find the tour reasonable as it almost a private tour and am happy to have their contact info. You have helped us with our upcoming three week trip to Sicily and now for a return to Piemonte or other winery tour locations in Italy. Thanks so much. Your trip reports are a joy to read!
Dec 19th, 2014, 12:50 PM
#64
annhig, if you were from the USA like LCI and me, you'd be paying many times more that for a trip to Cuba..>>
HT - don't I know it. [see the Cuba thread where this is presently being discussed].
it looks a fascinating place and we are lucky to be able to organise our own trip, hiring a car and staying at least part of the time in casas particulares, which should be fun AND keep the costs down.
LCI - sorry to take your TR "off piste".
HT - don't I know it. [see the Cuba thread where this is presently being discussed].
it looks a fascinating place and we are lucky to be able to organise our own trip, hiring a car and staying at least part of the time in casas particulares, which should be fun AND keep the costs down.
LCI - sorry to take your TR "off piste".
Dec 22nd, 2014, 02:24 PM
#65
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HappyTrvlr...your assessment is spot-on, with only 4 people it was like a private tour, and frankly since we knew Marcello from our previous visit to Bologna it felt even more personalized. Almost like traveling with a family member who lives there and knows of some great places to go! 
And now for:
Monday, September 8, 2014
During this entire trip we had spectacular weather (lucky us!) and today was exceptionally beautiful. If we placed a special order for perfect weather it certainly was delivered!
Today we did a morning winery tour and tasting at Fontanafredda located in Serrlunga d’Alba. Here is the winery website: http://www.fontanafredda.it/web/en/home-eng/ This was by far the largest and most commercial of the wineries we visited this week. The owners are associated with Eataly, the giant Italian food stores that are now popping up in all corners of the globe.
The history of the winery was interesting and the wines we tasted were very nice, but since we have wines by this producer available to us here at home, mom and I choose not to buy any wine here. There were several other people on the winery tour with us and we got to chatting with a foursome from Norway.
Lunch today was at La Rosa dei Vini in Serralunga. Here is their website: http://www.larosadeivini.com/index_ENG.html lunch was good, the food was tasty and the accompanying wines went well with the meal but the real reason to dine at this restaurant is for the view. It was a stunner and with the cloudless blue sky we had, it was like heaven! For our 2 hour lunch I went “all out” and had toma (local) cheese baked and wrapped in a grape leaf and then a deliciously filling bowl of porcini mushroom risotto. Mom decided to “go light” with a chicken salad with balsamic. We had our first taste of a local Piemontese Sauvignon Blanc which we liked very much, followed by a Nebbiolo wine.
After lunch we took a scenic drive back to our accommodations for a brief rest before doing an afternoon wine tasting right at our guesthouse, the Podieri Luigi Einaudi Vineyards. Here is the winery website: http://www.poderieinaudi.com/en/ We tasted several of the red wines produced here and 2 of their whites. All very drinkable, but mom and still didn’t splurge yet on any bottles of wine to bring home.
Aperitivo and dinner were at one of my favorite places on the tour. Marcello drove us to Monforte D’Alba to Le Case Della Saracca and all I can say is WOW! This winebar/restaurant (and they also rent several guestrooms) is in a re-purposed building and it spans at least 4 floors. There was lots of brick, stone and wood throughout and plenty of spiral staircases that seemed to never end!
The first area we entered was the wine bar area and aperitivo was in full swing. There were lots of tasty little snacks set up on the bar and lots of people standing enjoying their wines. There were several high bar tables/chairs for the lucky ones who could grab them. I let the owner select my wine for me and he choose a lovely sparkling wine from the region, and of course, I failed to get the name and write it down. Oh well, that just means I need to make a return visit, and I’m serious about that statement, I really liked this place a lot!
For our dinner we were seated at a table right in front of a former bread oven, talk about atmosphere! We started with a plate of culatello to share among the table. This is one of my favorite hams in all of Italy, if I had to describe it, I would have to say it was soft and melted in the mouth. For my main dish I had rabbit with local peppers, we’ve found the peppers in Piemonte to be absolutely delicious. Mom had vegetarian lasagna with pesto and it was served “atomic” hot as we like to say, the steam was wafting up from the dish in little puffs, it was another winning dish. We ended the meal with coffee and I had a local amaro digestivo to finish the night. Another wonderful wine-soaked day!
And now for:
Monday, September 8, 2014
During this entire trip we had spectacular weather (lucky us!) and today was exceptionally beautiful. If we placed a special order for perfect weather it certainly was delivered!
Today we did a morning winery tour and tasting at Fontanafredda located in Serrlunga d’Alba. Here is the winery website: http://www.fontanafredda.it/web/en/home-eng/ This was by far the largest and most commercial of the wineries we visited this week. The owners are associated with Eataly, the giant Italian food stores that are now popping up in all corners of the globe.
The history of the winery was interesting and the wines we tasted were very nice, but since we have wines by this producer available to us here at home, mom and I choose not to buy any wine here. There were several other people on the winery tour with us and we got to chatting with a foursome from Norway.
Lunch today was at La Rosa dei Vini in Serralunga. Here is their website: http://www.larosadeivini.com/index_ENG.html lunch was good, the food was tasty and the accompanying wines went well with the meal but the real reason to dine at this restaurant is for the view. It was a stunner and with the cloudless blue sky we had, it was like heaven! For our 2 hour lunch I went “all out” and had toma (local) cheese baked and wrapped in a grape leaf and then a deliciously filling bowl of porcini mushroom risotto. Mom decided to “go light” with a chicken salad with balsamic. We had our first taste of a local Piemontese Sauvignon Blanc which we liked very much, followed by a Nebbiolo wine.
After lunch we took a scenic drive back to our accommodations for a brief rest before doing an afternoon wine tasting right at our guesthouse, the Podieri Luigi Einaudi Vineyards. Here is the winery website: http://www.poderieinaudi.com/en/ We tasted several of the red wines produced here and 2 of their whites. All very drinkable, but mom and still didn’t splurge yet on any bottles of wine to bring home.
Aperitivo and dinner were at one of my favorite places on the tour. Marcello drove us to Monforte D’Alba to Le Case Della Saracca and all I can say is WOW! This winebar/restaurant (and they also rent several guestrooms) is in a re-purposed building and it spans at least 4 floors. There was lots of brick, stone and wood throughout and plenty of spiral staircases that seemed to never end!
The first area we entered was the wine bar area and aperitivo was in full swing. There were lots of tasty little snacks set up on the bar and lots of people standing enjoying their wines. There were several high bar tables/chairs for the lucky ones who could grab them. I let the owner select my wine for me and he choose a lovely sparkling wine from the region, and of course, I failed to get the name and write it down. Oh well, that just means I need to make a return visit, and I’m serious about that statement, I really liked this place a lot!
For our dinner we were seated at a table right in front of a former bread oven, talk about atmosphere! We started with a plate of culatello to share among the table. This is one of my favorite hams in all of Italy, if I had to describe it, I would have to say it was soft and melted in the mouth. For my main dish I had rabbit with local peppers, we’ve found the peppers in Piemonte to be absolutely delicious. Mom had vegetarian lasagna with pesto and it was served “atomic” hot as we like to say, the steam was wafting up from the dish in little puffs, it was another winning dish. We ended the meal with coffee and I had a local amaro digestivo to finish the night. Another wonderful wine-soaked day!
Dec 22nd, 2014, 02:57 PM
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Tuesday, September 9, 2014
This was our truffle hunting day! Marcello drove us to a village near the town of Alba where we met Stefano, our truffle hunter friend. This was one of the things mom was really looking forward to and I’m glad we were able to do this was Stefano. When we got out of the car, Stefano was getting the dogs ready, there were 2 dogs. The forest area we were to hunt in had a few inclines, but mom and I took our time and we managed quite well to get to the bottom of the forest floor. Now, when I say forest, I may be creating an imagine in your mind of a Robin Hood or Harry Potter story, no, this was more like a rather large wood adjacent to a park and vineyard, but “our” dogs found 2 truffles within a matter of 20 minutes from the moment we arrived at the bottom of the incline, so we were happy. We got to keep the truffles and use them in our cooking lesson/dinner later in the evening.
After our success with finding truffles, Stefano spent some time telling us the history of the area and the park that was surrounding us, and also some wonderful stories about raising his dogs and his family. Just when we thought we were done, a car pulls up and out pops Stefano’s parents with a picnic lunch for us. This was another highlight of the tour! We spent the next hour eating lots of homemade Piemontese food, here is where we had the best homemade vitello tonnato! Not to mention a whole truffle sliced over a plateful of local toma cheese that was heaven on a plate. Although Stefano’s parents are not fluent in English, between Marcello translating, and my little Italian and Stefano’s little English we all got along easily. Besides being a truffle hunter, Stefano also has a truffle shop in the town of Alba, mom and I didn’t make it there, but our travel companions did and said it was a terrific little shop. If you are in the market for truffles in Alba, you may want to check out Tartufi & Co. on Via Pertinance, 12.
After lunch Marcello announced it was time for a coffee and mom and I couldn’t have agreed more. So, off we go to the center of Alba. By this time in late afternoon, mom and I are ready for not only a coffee break, but a break to rest our feet too! After a brief walk around the center of town, which made us want to put Alba on our, “let’s return here one day” list, we found a café and sat down for a bit. Mom decided instead of coffee to have a cool and refreshing aqua di menthe and I had a caffe shakerato. It was the perfect way to watch the world of Alba go by!
In the evening we had a private wine tasting at Azienda Agricola Ribote di Porro Bruno e Figlio. This is a very small operation and the father, Bruno, has now passed on the management of the winery to his son Fabrizio. We not only tasted 6 of their wines, but we were invited into their home and had a cooking/pasta making lesson with Bruno’s wife Irma and then dinner with their wines. Of course, we didn’t make everything we had for dinner, if we did, we would have needed to arrive at noon to help cook, with all Irma had for us, but we did spend plenty of time making the tajarin pasta from scratch.
In addition to the tajarin pasta, with the truffles from earlier in the day shaved over it in a meat ragu, we had another version of vitello tonnato, peppers with tuna and artichokes (they were delicious!), torta salata (a rustic torte), fried cauliflower, roasted veal and not one but 2 desserts, a chocolate bunet and an orange marmalade crostata. Do you think we waddled out of their house? You bet we did! All of it delicious and all of it homemade!
This was our truffle hunting day! Marcello drove us to a village near the town of Alba where we met Stefano, our truffle hunter friend. This was one of the things mom was really looking forward to and I’m glad we were able to do this was Stefano. When we got out of the car, Stefano was getting the dogs ready, there were 2 dogs. The forest area we were to hunt in had a few inclines, but mom and I took our time and we managed quite well to get to the bottom of the forest floor. Now, when I say forest, I may be creating an imagine in your mind of a Robin Hood or Harry Potter story, no, this was more like a rather large wood adjacent to a park and vineyard, but “our” dogs found 2 truffles within a matter of 20 minutes from the moment we arrived at the bottom of the incline, so we were happy. We got to keep the truffles and use them in our cooking lesson/dinner later in the evening.
After our success with finding truffles, Stefano spent some time telling us the history of the area and the park that was surrounding us, and also some wonderful stories about raising his dogs and his family. Just when we thought we were done, a car pulls up and out pops Stefano’s parents with a picnic lunch for us. This was another highlight of the tour! We spent the next hour eating lots of homemade Piemontese food, here is where we had the best homemade vitello tonnato! Not to mention a whole truffle sliced over a plateful of local toma cheese that was heaven on a plate. Although Stefano’s parents are not fluent in English, between Marcello translating, and my little Italian and Stefano’s little English we all got along easily. Besides being a truffle hunter, Stefano also has a truffle shop in the town of Alba, mom and I didn’t make it there, but our travel companions did and said it was a terrific little shop. If you are in the market for truffles in Alba, you may want to check out Tartufi & Co. on Via Pertinance, 12.
After lunch Marcello announced it was time for a coffee and mom and I couldn’t have agreed more. So, off we go to the center of Alba. By this time in late afternoon, mom and I are ready for not only a coffee break, but a break to rest our feet too! After a brief walk around the center of town, which made us want to put Alba on our, “let’s return here one day” list, we found a café and sat down for a bit. Mom decided instead of coffee to have a cool and refreshing aqua di menthe and I had a caffe shakerato. It was the perfect way to watch the world of Alba go by!
In the evening we had a private wine tasting at Azienda Agricola Ribote di Porro Bruno e Figlio. This is a very small operation and the father, Bruno, has now passed on the management of the winery to his son Fabrizio. We not only tasted 6 of their wines, but we were invited into their home and had a cooking/pasta making lesson with Bruno’s wife Irma and then dinner with their wines. Of course, we didn’t make everything we had for dinner, if we did, we would have needed to arrive at noon to help cook, with all Irma had for us, but we did spend plenty of time making the tajarin pasta from scratch.
In addition to the tajarin pasta, with the truffles from earlier in the day shaved over it in a meat ragu, we had another version of vitello tonnato, peppers with tuna and artichokes (they were delicious!), torta salata (a rustic torte), fried cauliflower, roasted veal and not one but 2 desserts, a chocolate bunet and an orange marmalade crostata. Do you think we waddled out of their house? You bet we did! All of it delicious and all of it homemade!
Dec 22nd, 2014, 04:16 PM
#67
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LowCountryIslander, we've been enjoying your TR! Especially appreciated your description of your daytrip to Milano. We were "in the neighnborhood", relatively speaking, and were tempted to visit Milano. But it was just cramming in too much. More to enjoy on our next trip. Glad to see that you're doing your TR a bit at a time, as we are. We'll continue to look for more episodes. Happy Holidays!
Dec 23rd, 2014, 12:29 PM
#69
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Also, FWIW...On the tour we never had to pay anything extra, unless we wanted to buy bottles of wine at winery tastings or any personal souvenirs. All food and beverages during meals were included, and it was never a pre-set menu at any of the restaurants we went to, we ordered right off the menu. The exceptions to that were the meals we had with the winemakers in their homes (we had another one, coming up in the TR soon), and the picnic with the truffle hunter, during those there was no menu to select from.
Dec 23rd, 2014, 06:58 PM
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Wednesday, September 10, 2014
We visited two wineries today and both were just terrific. The first was Giuseppe Cortese in Barbaresco, here is their website: http://www.cortesegiuseppe.it/index.php After a tour of the winery we got “down to business” tasting 6 of their wines. This was one of my favorite tastings, because I liked all of the wines! But when it came down to it, the Barbera D’Alba Morassina and the Langhe Chardonnay Scpulin were the top winners for me and mom. Another nice thing about this winery was that they would ship wine to us at home! Finally, mom and I succumbed and we bought a case of wine, a mix of the two wines we enjoyed the most. And it was a good thing our trip was winding down because the wine arrived at my front door the day after we arrived home!
After our wine tasting we spent a little time in the town of Barbaresco where there were more stunning views of vineyards. Just before lunchtime we hopped in Marcello’s car and off we went for our next winery visit and lunch.
We were warmly welcomed at the Cascina Carlot di Mo Claudio by Claudio and his parents. We toured the vineyard and got a little history of this very small operation whose specialty is Moscato d’Asti. But, he also makes a dry sparkling wine that mom and I really enjoyed so at €6 per bottle we quickly decided to buy 2 bottles to bring home with us. Another of the wines Claudio produces is a Grignolino, which is a local wine and is similar in color to rose wine. Since this was a wine we had never seen or tasted before we bought a couple bottles. I was starting to calculate how heavy our suitcases would be on our return trip home!
Lunch, which was prepared by Claudio’s mother, was another feast of local Piemontese foods. We had a different version of carne crudo here, it was veal, and there had to be at least 3 pounds of meat on the platter. There was also lardo and salumi that was from the pigs raised by this family, you can’t really get fresher than that! We also had some of the most delicious gorgonzola cheese we’ve ever had at this lunch. After saying our goodbyes to the winemaker and his parents we toddled back to the car and poured ourselves into our seats.
On the way back to Dogliani, we stopped in the town of Nieve and what a cute little town this was! And of course, more gorgeous views. It seemed to me and mom this area has some of the most breath-taking scenery we’ve ever seen.
After a short break back at the guesthouse, we were on our way to the town of Novello for dinner at L’Angolo di Rosina. The winemaker, Fabrizio, from the one of the wineries we visited and his girlfriend joined us. It was nice to have a winemaker select the wines to go with our meal and he selected a very nice Gavi for mom and me. Mom and I decided to have the same dishes at this restaurant and we both had the mushroom tartine starter and porchetta main dish, both were good, but the wine was the real winner of this meal. Mom and I had the good fortune to sit next to Fabrizio’s girlfriend, Monica, who loves to cook, so between our limited Italian, and her limited English, we managed to have a great conversation about cooking and food. It was a nice ending to a wonderful day!
We visited two wineries today and both were just terrific. The first was Giuseppe Cortese in Barbaresco, here is their website: http://www.cortesegiuseppe.it/index.php After a tour of the winery we got “down to business” tasting 6 of their wines. This was one of my favorite tastings, because I liked all of the wines! But when it came down to it, the Barbera D’Alba Morassina and the Langhe Chardonnay Scpulin were the top winners for me and mom. Another nice thing about this winery was that they would ship wine to us at home! Finally, mom and I succumbed and we bought a case of wine, a mix of the two wines we enjoyed the most. And it was a good thing our trip was winding down because the wine arrived at my front door the day after we arrived home!
After our wine tasting we spent a little time in the town of Barbaresco where there were more stunning views of vineyards. Just before lunchtime we hopped in Marcello’s car and off we went for our next winery visit and lunch.
We were warmly welcomed at the Cascina Carlot di Mo Claudio by Claudio and his parents. We toured the vineyard and got a little history of this very small operation whose specialty is Moscato d’Asti. But, he also makes a dry sparkling wine that mom and I really enjoyed so at €6 per bottle we quickly decided to buy 2 bottles to bring home with us. Another of the wines Claudio produces is a Grignolino, which is a local wine and is similar in color to rose wine. Since this was a wine we had never seen or tasted before we bought a couple bottles. I was starting to calculate how heavy our suitcases would be on our return trip home!
Lunch, which was prepared by Claudio’s mother, was another feast of local Piemontese foods. We had a different version of carne crudo here, it was veal, and there had to be at least 3 pounds of meat on the platter. There was also lardo and salumi that was from the pigs raised by this family, you can’t really get fresher than that! We also had some of the most delicious gorgonzola cheese we’ve ever had at this lunch. After saying our goodbyes to the winemaker and his parents we toddled back to the car and poured ourselves into our seats.
On the way back to Dogliani, we stopped in the town of Nieve and what a cute little town this was! And of course, more gorgeous views. It seemed to me and mom this area has some of the most breath-taking scenery we’ve ever seen.
After a short break back at the guesthouse, we were on our way to the town of Novello for dinner at L’Angolo di Rosina. The winemaker, Fabrizio, from the one of the wineries we visited and his girlfriend joined us. It was nice to have a winemaker select the wines to go with our meal and he selected a very nice Gavi for mom and me. Mom and I decided to have the same dishes at this restaurant and we both had the mushroom tartine starter and porchetta main dish, both were good, but the wine was the real winner of this meal. Mom and I had the good fortune to sit next to Fabrizio’s girlfriend, Monica, who loves to cook, so between our limited Italian, and her limited English, we managed to have a great conversation about cooking and food. It was a nice ending to a wonderful day!
Dec 25th, 2014, 11:16 AM
#71
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Brava, LCI! DH and I only spent 2 nights in Turin but our big dinner was incredible. Your continued tour is super to read about.
FWIW: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ellagio-tr.cfm
FWIW: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ellagio-tr.cfm
Dec 27th, 2014, 07:10 PM
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Hi TDudette..I'll definitely check out your trip report, thanks for providing the link.
Now for more...
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Today we spent the morning in the town of Barolo wandering about the narrow streets and visiting the wine museum. Here is the museum’s website: http://www.wimubarolo.it/en/ Was it a little “hokey”? Yes, but mom and I had fun there with some of the interactive exhibits.
In the late morning Marcello arranged for us to do a tour of the Marchesi di Barolo winery. Here is their website: http://www.marchesibarolo.com/en/ This was another large, commercial winery, but it has a very long history and it was an interested visit.
Not only did we tour the winery but we also did a wine tasting lunch and I’d call this lunch extremely upscale compared to the winery tours/lunch/diner we had with the other winemakers. The Marchesi di Barolo winery is a well-oiled machine, and the lunch was spectacular.
We tasted four wines during lunch. We started with their Arneis, which was terrific and served with vitello tonnato that was exceptionally good. The next wine was a Barbera d’Asti and that was served with a risotto that was the creamiest I’d eaten in a long time. Then we tasted the Barolo, known as “The Wine of Kings and The King of Wines”. This was served with delicious roasted veal and purple potatoes. The dessert course included a Moscato d’Asti wine, which was one of the best we had tasted along with a fruit gelle made from the wine and a chocolate torte. Mom and I were restraining ourselves and only eating half of the portions served because tonight was our last dinner on the tour and we would be in for a treat and we wanted to make sure we would enjoy it!
After lunch we stopped in the town of La Morra, which has a nice area to see some lovely views over the hills and vineyards. We also made a short stop in the town of Castiglione Falletto. There is a wine bar called La Terrazza located in this town with, what we thought, was the best view of the area we had seen all week. The proprietress of the bar was nice enough to let us step onto the terrace for a peak and we were gob smacked by the beauty! After we took some photos I happened to notice the bar sold tee shirts, since the woman was kind enough to let us stay for a few minutes and take some photos, the least I could do was buy a €10 tee shirt, it’s one of my favorites now!
Not long after our quick “view” pit-stop we were back at our accommodations and we started to gather our belongings and prepare for our return to Torino in the morning. When the dinner hour rolled around we met Marcello by the car and he whisked us off to Ristorante Castello di Grinzane in Grinzane Cavour. Here is their website: http://www.castellogrinzane.com/web/trattoria.asp
This place was a big “Wow”, the restaurant is located in a castle and I believe they have one Michelin star. The dining room has about 10-12 tables, of varying size, some seating as many as 8 or 10. The food and service were fantastic. After looking over the menu mom and I decided we would both have the exact same starter and main dish, this seemed to happen more frequently on this trip then on previous trips, but I’m glad we did, because we both really enjoyed this meal. For our starter we had fried zucchini flowers topped with red shrimp, it was a great combination and the shrimp were very succulent. Our main course was monkfish medallions wrapped in eggplant, it was light, yet had lots of flavor. We had the sommelier select a local Sauvignon Blanc for us, which went perfectly with both courses. We declined dessert but had espresso and enjoyed a few mini-desserts they brought to the table. All in all, it was a wonderful way to end a lovely trip to the Piemonte area. We were two very happy ladies. We were glad we would be returning to Torino for one more day, but sad to know the trip was quickly coming to an end.
Now for more...
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Today we spent the morning in the town of Barolo wandering about the narrow streets and visiting the wine museum. Here is the museum’s website: http://www.wimubarolo.it/en/ Was it a little “hokey”? Yes, but mom and I had fun there with some of the interactive exhibits.
In the late morning Marcello arranged for us to do a tour of the Marchesi di Barolo winery. Here is their website: http://www.marchesibarolo.com/en/ This was another large, commercial winery, but it has a very long history and it was an interested visit.
Not only did we tour the winery but we also did a wine tasting lunch and I’d call this lunch extremely upscale compared to the winery tours/lunch/diner we had with the other winemakers. The Marchesi di Barolo winery is a well-oiled machine, and the lunch was spectacular.
We tasted four wines during lunch. We started with their Arneis, which was terrific and served with vitello tonnato that was exceptionally good. The next wine was a Barbera d’Asti and that was served with a risotto that was the creamiest I’d eaten in a long time. Then we tasted the Barolo, known as “The Wine of Kings and The King of Wines”. This was served with delicious roasted veal and purple potatoes. The dessert course included a Moscato d’Asti wine, which was one of the best we had tasted along with a fruit gelle made from the wine and a chocolate torte. Mom and I were restraining ourselves and only eating half of the portions served because tonight was our last dinner on the tour and we would be in for a treat and we wanted to make sure we would enjoy it!
After lunch we stopped in the town of La Morra, which has a nice area to see some lovely views over the hills and vineyards. We also made a short stop in the town of Castiglione Falletto. There is a wine bar called La Terrazza located in this town with, what we thought, was the best view of the area we had seen all week. The proprietress of the bar was nice enough to let us step onto the terrace for a peak and we were gob smacked by the beauty! After we took some photos I happened to notice the bar sold tee shirts, since the woman was kind enough to let us stay for a few minutes and take some photos, the least I could do was buy a €10 tee shirt, it’s one of my favorites now!
Not long after our quick “view” pit-stop we were back at our accommodations and we started to gather our belongings and prepare for our return to Torino in the morning. When the dinner hour rolled around we met Marcello by the car and he whisked us off to Ristorante Castello di Grinzane in Grinzane Cavour. Here is their website: http://www.castellogrinzane.com/web/trattoria.asp
This place was a big “Wow”, the restaurant is located in a castle and I believe they have one Michelin star. The dining room has about 10-12 tables, of varying size, some seating as many as 8 or 10. The food and service were fantastic. After looking over the menu mom and I decided we would both have the exact same starter and main dish, this seemed to happen more frequently on this trip then on previous trips, but I’m glad we did, because we both really enjoyed this meal. For our starter we had fried zucchini flowers topped with red shrimp, it was a great combination and the shrimp were very succulent. Our main course was monkfish medallions wrapped in eggplant, it was light, yet had lots of flavor. We had the sommelier select a local Sauvignon Blanc for us, which went perfectly with both courses. We declined dessert but had espresso and enjoyed a few mini-desserts they brought to the table. All in all, it was a wonderful way to end a lovely trip to the Piemonte area. We were two very happy ladies. We were glad we would be returning to Torino for one more day, but sad to know the trip was quickly coming to an end.
Dec 28th, 2014, 10:05 AM
#73
how did you manage two such wonderful meals in one day, LCI? Brava!
I love fried courgette flowers, but have never had them with shrimp - it sounds delicious.
And what a terrific trip. thanks for sharing it with us.
I love fried courgette flowers, but have never had them with shrimp - it sounds delicious.
And what a terrific trip. thanks for sharing it with us.
Dec 28th, 2014, 06:19 PM
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annhig...it was tough! The lunch wine tasting at Marchesi di Barolo was exceptionally good, but mom and I kept telling ourselves we needed to "reign" it in to leave room for dinner. During lunch we only ate half of what was on the plate!
And now to finish things....
Friday, September 12, 2014
We packed all our belongings into Marcello’s car and left Dogliani heading back to Torino. Marcello dropped us off at the hotel and we were checking in by 11:30am. We had plenty of time to pop around the corner to the tabbachi and buy some bus/metro tickets. Mom and I were on a mission to visit the Eataly in Torino and do some grocery shopping. It’s a joke between us, when we say the real reason we keep going back to Italy is to go grocery shopping.
We took the tram from near the hotel right to the train station and then jumped on the metro heading towards the stop that would take us closest to Eataly. We were really impressed with the Torino metro system. We found it to be very easy to navigate with elevator access from street level to train platform level, which would prove to be an even bigger asset on the return trip when we had several hefty shopping bags! The stations and train cars were very clean too!
Eataly was about a 4 block walk from the stop we got off at and I’m glad I studied Google Street View prior to this trip, it really helped me get my bearings quickly. Since it was just after noon, mom and I decided a quick lunch break was in order and we slid into 2 empty seats at the salumi bar. After a meat and cheese plate, a bottle of water and 2 glasses of wine (cost was €16.50) we were fortified for a few hours of browsing and buying. We really did show considerable restraint and tried to keep our purchases to a minimum, but it was hard to resist the Mandarino digestivo we had been looking for during our last several visits to Italy, so we did make that purchase. Before we knew it, it was 2:30pm and we retraced our steps and headed back to the hotel.
Once back in our room the arduous task of packing our bags for the flight home began. I’m happy to say everything originally in our bags and all our new purchases fit without any problem. But I will admit to bringing along small collapsible duffle bags which we did use for some of our miscellaneous items, good thing we could take advantage of the extra checked bag perk I was allowed!
Timing is everything they always say, and we finished our packing just at the time we like to have aperitivo, so off we went to Banco for a half liter of wine before our 7:30pm dinner reservation at L’Acino.
We had dined at L’Acino earlier in the trip and enjoyed it very much. At the end of that first meal we made a reservation for this meal and could not have been happier. We were greeted warmly when we walked in, like we were old friends. For my starter I had ravioli stuffed with ricotta, zucchini and mint, it was delicious. Mom had a cheese flan that defines explanation, it was that good! For my main dish I had the pork shank and if there ever was “Fred Flinstone” food, this was it, the shank was huge and no knife was needed, the meat simply feel off the bone it was that tender. It was served with more of their crispy and tasty roasted potatoes. Mom had the grilled veal and it was perfectly cooked to her taste. We had a bottle of wine and a bottle of water, but passed on dessert, coffee and digestive tonight since we had a very early morning wake-up call. This was the best way mom and I could have ended a truly fantastic trip.
Saturday, September 14, 2014
We had an extremely early wake-up call and a 4:30am taxi pick-up to take us back to the airport in Torino for our 6:45am Air France flight. Check-in was a breeze and our connections in Paris and Atlanta were uneventful. When we arrived in Atlanta we experienced mobile passport control, this is not Global Entry, we don’t have that. We were ushered into a line that feed up to banks of computer kiosks where we scanned our passports then checked off an electronic customs form on the screen which then prints out. We took that form and got in line for a customs agent to stamp that form. From landing to going through passport control, customs, claiming and re-checking our bags to Savannah it took just under one hour. And our bags came off the conveyor belt in Savannah when we arrived, which is always a happy moment!
Thanks to all for following along. Mom and I had a wonderful time on this trip, as I’ve mentioned, it is our favorite trip to Italy in the last 7 years we’ve been going there. Hmmmmm….maybe this means a return visit to Torino won’t be too far off in our future!
And now to finish things....
Friday, September 12, 2014
We packed all our belongings into Marcello’s car and left Dogliani heading back to Torino. Marcello dropped us off at the hotel and we were checking in by 11:30am. We had plenty of time to pop around the corner to the tabbachi and buy some bus/metro tickets. Mom and I were on a mission to visit the Eataly in Torino and do some grocery shopping. It’s a joke between us, when we say the real reason we keep going back to Italy is to go grocery shopping.
We took the tram from near the hotel right to the train station and then jumped on the metro heading towards the stop that would take us closest to Eataly. We were really impressed with the Torino metro system. We found it to be very easy to navigate with elevator access from street level to train platform level, which would prove to be an even bigger asset on the return trip when we had several hefty shopping bags! The stations and train cars were very clean too!
Eataly was about a 4 block walk from the stop we got off at and I’m glad I studied Google Street View prior to this trip, it really helped me get my bearings quickly. Since it was just after noon, mom and I decided a quick lunch break was in order and we slid into 2 empty seats at the salumi bar. After a meat and cheese plate, a bottle of water and 2 glasses of wine (cost was €16.50) we were fortified for a few hours of browsing and buying. We really did show considerable restraint and tried to keep our purchases to a minimum, but it was hard to resist the Mandarino digestivo we had been looking for during our last several visits to Italy, so we did make that purchase. Before we knew it, it was 2:30pm and we retraced our steps and headed back to the hotel.
Once back in our room the arduous task of packing our bags for the flight home began. I’m happy to say everything originally in our bags and all our new purchases fit without any problem. But I will admit to bringing along small collapsible duffle bags which we did use for some of our miscellaneous items, good thing we could take advantage of the extra checked bag perk I was allowed!
Timing is everything they always say, and we finished our packing just at the time we like to have aperitivo, so off we went to Banco for a half liter of wine before our 7:30pm dinner reservation at L’Acino.
We had dined at L’Acino earlier in the trip and enjoyed it very much. At the end of that first meal we made a reservation for this meal and could not have been happier. We were greeted warmly when we walked in, like we were old friends. For my starter I had ravioli stuffed with ricotta, zucchini and mint, it was delicious. Mom had a cheese flan that defines explanation, it was that good! For my main dish I had the pork shank and if there ever was “Fred Flinstone” food, this was it, the shank was huge and no knife was needed, the meat simply feel off the bone it was that tender. It was served with more of their crispy and tasty roasted potatoes. Mom had the grilled veal and it was perfectly cooked to her taste. We had a bottle of wine and a bottle of water, but passed on dessert, coffee and digestive tonight since we had a very early morning wake-up call. This was the best way mom and I could have ended a truly fantastic trip.
Saturday, September 14, 2014
We had an extremely early wake-up call and a 4:30am taxi pick-up to take us back to the airport in Torino for our 6:45am Air France flight. Check-in was a breeze and our connections in Paris and Atlanta were uneventful. When we arrived in Atlanta we experienced mobile passport control, this is not Global Entry, we don’t have that. We were ushered into a line that feed up to banks of computer kiosks where we scanned our passports then checked off an electronic customs form on the screen which then prints out. We took that form and got in line for a customs agent to stamp that form. From landing to going through passport control, customs, claiming and re-checking our bags to Savannah it took just under one hour. And our bags came off the conveyor belt in Savannah when we arrived, which is always a happy moment!
Thanks to all for following along. Mom and I had a wonderful time on this trip, as I’ve mentioned, it is our favorite trip to Italy in the last 7 years we’ve been going there. Hmmmmm….maybe this means a return visit to Torino won’t be too far off in our future!
Dec 28th, 2014, 07:46 PM
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Fantastic report, as usual! Puts Piemonte even higher on my travel list than it was. When I was in Bologna last year, I did the one-day cooking class with Marcello and Raffaella after reading another of your trip reports - I can only imagine how wonderful a full tour with them would be. Absolutely no cut corners and very personalized! Thanks for sharing your travels.
Dec 30th, 2014, 02:36 PM
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Yes, another great report ... and the detail is so helpful for fellow travelers! I'm taking notes for the possibility of a future visit to the area. So many favorite locales in Italy, I'm hard pressed to not revisit some (like Rome), but want to add new areas. Just wondering, since you've traveled so often to Italy, is there a region you've yet to explore?
Dec 31st, 2014, 05:07 AM
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Thanks everyone, it's always nice to know a trip report is being read.
Janetd5...yes, there are many places in Italy I haven't explored yet. Puglia is high on my "go to" list as well as the Le Marche area. I also haven't been to the Liguria area. There are also many areas I've been too, that I would like to revisit because I only got to explore a very small portion, such as Sicily, I was there for 10 days and barely scratched the surface!
Janetd5...yes, there are many places in Italy I haven't explored yet. Puglia is high on my "go to" list as well as the Le Marche area. I also haven't been to the Liguria area. There are also many areas I've been too, that I would like to revisit because I only got to explore a very small portion, such as Sicily, I was there for 10 days and barely scratched the surface!
