Hello,

We have finalized plans to spend three nights in Bologna and then four nights in Turin after our time in Malta (instead of Sicily). We would like to spend a day driving to a vineyard outside of Turin (Barolo would be preferable) and we are wondering if you can recommend any vineyards in the region that would take us on a tour of their vineyards, operations, cellars and have a wine tasting as well.

Also, in Turin, which hotel do you recommend? The Turin Palace or the NH Collection Piazza Carlina?

Thanks

If you stay in Alba you’d be near many excellent wineries including those the town of Barolo, a wonderful area to spend time.

We were considering that but we want to spend time in Turin and four nights isn't enough time to move around to both places, so we would take a day trip to a vineyard.

I would take a guided tour out of Turin rather than DIY. If you drive, the driver can't do the tasting. Italy takes DUI very seriously... the legal BAC limit is 0.5.

The barolo vineyard zone is more than an hour's drive from Torino.

https://www.wine-searcher.com/regions-barolo

G. D. Vajra does visits.
https://www.gdvajra.it/en/homepage

Another option could be to look at whether any vineyards closer than Barolo are offering tours and wine tasting that can be reached by train, otherwise one of you will have to be the nominated driver.

One winery is not going to put someone over the limit. People often drink more at lunch than they do at a tasting.

If the OP was going to three wineries, that is one thing. But one winery? This is not an all night party, it is probably 5 oz. of wine in the end. Some of which can be spit or dumped.

about a month ago, we spent a week in Bologna, then to Turin for 3 nights and then to La Morra for 5 days. We hired local somallier, Danitella Maracine, to drive us for 2 days in La Morra. She took us to 2 tastings each day and made the appointments and we visited the local hill towns. She was a great help and we thouroughly enjoyed our days with her.

I can recommend the beautiful Sunstar Hotel https://piemont.sunstar.ch/ near Asti in Piedmont and a visit to the beautiful town of Alba. There are many wineries where you can taste good wine. The area is also famous for many delicious truffle mushroom products and hazelnuts!

Have a great trip!
Martin

As mentioned the alcohol limit for drink driving in Italy is 0.5 milligrams of alcohol per millilitre of blood. This is about 1 glass of wine. Many of the vineyards offer a wine tasting of 6 different wines, so yes if you adopt a professional approach and spit the wine out, not a problem. However for those of us that drink the wine, it’s easy to go over the limit without realising.