Help…I think I want to be in La Morra…but I’m really not sure as this is my first time going there. We have a budget that restricts prices to about $100/night. Air B&B is the back-up if there are no strong recommendations here. Thanks in advance.
www.barolomeriame.com/eng/agriturismo.html
Casa Meriame just out of Serralunga is a good value place to stay. Paolo and Luisella Manzone are lovely people and great hosts.
Corte Gondina in La Morra. Have stayed there many times. Simple and convenient.
Corte Gondina will not fit your budget I believe, but I agree it’s a nice place (will be there in six days)
Try http://www.revellofratelli.com/, also nice and excellent qpr and location in Annunziata just next to Osteria Veglio
I have stayed in Corte Gondina and it’s very nice but it won’t match your budget.
This year we wanted to stay in Castiglione Falletto as it’s in the middle of things - well placed between Serralunga and La Morra. Thierry found this great, brand new apartment, very well priced:
Monchiero Castiglione Falletto
Revello was fine when I were there in 2011. See if they can fix you up with Veglio, great (and convenient) place to eat.
Howard, thank you! I think you just solved my dilemma. Any recommendations on some of your favorite visits of the trip? I’m thinking about making two reservations/day. (9am & 2pm) Does that seem to make sense?
I stayed in this place for 80 Euros and was quite happy. Easy walk to Bartolo Mascarello, G. Rinaldi, . . .
Hi Kirk,
We tend to do 3-4 visits per day but you set your own pace of what to visit. Take Massaghetti maps or apps and walk around Rocche di Castiglione, Monprivato, Villero or Scarrone (all close).
Walk from the apartment to visits at Vietti and Cavallotto (two great visits). Walk to Le Torre for dinner (short drives to Bovio in La Morra and Centro Storico, Serralunga for dinner).
I don’t know if you like modernists (Altare is good) or traditionalists (any of B Mascarello, G Rinaldi or G Mascarello is great but each is hard to get into). G Conterno is the holy grail but very hard to get into (but PM me and I can give you an email contact). More realistic to visit and very good are traditionalists GB Burlotto, Massolino and Brovia.
You could also think about a day in Barbaresco. I can give you contacts there if you PM me.
As you can see lots of options …
Cheers, Howard
I found 2 visits per day to be plenty, but I am quite a yacker and had lots of questions. I let them pick the times, and it seemed that 10am and 2:30 or 3pm worked better for them. Everything there happens later.
Yes, visits tend begin later (9.30-10 am at the earliest) and never during lunch (12 until 2.00 pm). However, you can start visits later in the day (5 or even 6.00 pm starts are possible). As Ken says, offer some different times and days because winemakers will only have limited parts of the week available for tasting.
If you want to do more than a couple of visits in a day you need to think about geographical grouping for them (expect to get lost a few times even with GPS!) eg we did a Barbaresco day this time.
Moving this to travel.
I used to stay at Cascina delle Rose. The views of the alps are unbeatable. They make great Barbaresco and Giovanna and Italo are welcoming hosts.
We stayed here and enjoyed it.
I was very happy with this Agriturismo at $81 a night. The owner is a former Travel Agent and was expert in setting up tastings for us. Walking distance to the town of Barolo, access to a kitchen to cook or refrigerate meats and cheeses, etc.
FWIW if only doing 2 visits I would aim to do them back to back, either
a) in the morning, so we could have a leisurely lunch to follow and leisurely walk through the vineyards to work it all off and take in the wonderful walking
b) in the afternoon to allow something else in the morning, maybe a drive, maybe a visit to a non-wine town, or perhaps a walk or a leisurely rise
We always lean towards the mornings, and I certainly wouldn’t want to be watching the clock, worrying about whether we’ll be late for an afternoon appointment. Traditionally Italian meals are leisurely affairs, though I have noticed over the years that they seem a little keen to rush the meal for overseas visitors - which I take to be thinking that’s what we expect (rather than a rush to turn tables over - there never is that pressure in the region).
Thanks for the recommendation Paul - a place we’ve looked at a couple of times over the years, but by chance ended up somewhere else on both occasions. We’re huge fans of both agriturismi and apartments, so the ones that tick both boxes are popular with us. We love being on our own schedule with apartments, so we can have an early start or a lazy start, have something substantial for breakfast, or just a coffee and a brioche. Outside of Barolo/Barbaresco I’m forever navigating between specialist food shops or sometimes producers, so having a fridge has become a necessity, though at a push many places will put something in their own fridge for you if needed. On our last trip to Italy I returned with a selection of cheeses (Malga cheeses from the mountains of Trentino, plus parmesan and smoked mozzarella from Bologna), a few regional salami, Trentino butter, together with fruit (Amalfi coast lemons and Nespole - my absolute favourite fruit). On other occasions it’s been fresh mushrooms / truffles / olives. The joy of being relatively close, plus (for now, but maybe not much longer) membership of the EU that means border controls have no issue with the movement of such produce.
Coming back to the original request, as posted on another current thread, La Morra has many good wineries in easy reach, so is a fine choice. The walk to / back from Barolo is a good one, though is quite steep on the return, whether going via Annunziata more directly (a round trip works well). The upside of returning to La Morra is you can’t get lost, the downside being because it’s right at the top of that big hill!
One additional (to the other thread) La Morra place I’ll recommend for the visit (albeit not so the wines which didn’t enthuse me) was Renato Ratti. A very modern winery which they are very proud of, lovely views from the tasting room and very professional hosting, with a lovely touch of giving free posters away (including the geeky favourite of their vintage charts covering the last century and a half). A different experience to the smaller family operations, but one in which they acquitted themselves well.
regards
Ian
Not to mention a few steps walk downstairs to the Brezza family’s cantina in the other wing of the building! Their wines are definitely worth checking out. Both Enzo Brezza and his German wife speak very good English
Since that is peak truffle season, you would be wise to book soon.
I can also vouch for Fratelli Revello if you haven’t already booked elsewhere. Lovely people, good breakfast, great location. Walking distance to Osteria Veglio is another plus.
My wife and I are spoiled and as such, for our prior visits, we stayed at the Somaschi Hotel in Cherasco and the Hotel Calissano in Alba, which is where we will again be staying this September.
I should add that the breakfast and coffee here were terrific and included with the room.
And not a bad view from my room:
