Trip to Piedmont

A group of friends are making a trip to Piedmont. We anticipate about a 4-5 day stay and would like to visit wineries in both Barolo & Barbaresco. Please give your rec’s on:

-Wineries to visit (anticipating no more than 2-3 per day)
-Where to stay (ie region/city)
-Lodging
-Restaurants

Many Thanks!

Hi R M
Hopefully we can help you narrow the options down.

Some basic info:
http://www.langheroero.it are the excellent tourist office in Alba - atypically efficient and energetic, and an exceptional resource including extensive winery listings and they even introduced a winery booking service a few years ago.

Barolo and Barbaresco aren’t far apart, so certainly feasible to fit both in during your stay. Either base in Alba and drive each day, or why not base in one of the regions and plan at least one day where there is no designated driver, but you walk to and between the wineries - perhaps even walking through the very widely accessible vineyards to get there. A picnic amongst the vines might be a nice variant on eating out.

Alba has some very good food shops, so (depending on customs restrictions) can be worth pencilling in at least a couple of hours for picking up so nice stuff to take home (or for picnics / self-catering)

Airport options are Milano (probably Malpensa) or Torino. We’d always favour the latter, but not much in it distance-wise. The driving from Torino is fairly straightforward, but can be quite busy at peak times until you pass Torino. The only other potentially stressful junction comes near Alba.

Be aware that Barbaresco and especially Barolo (the eponymous villages) are every year becoming more of a target for coach tours. Both still have plenty of merit, but Barolo these days is a place we go to for a specific purpose only, before heading back out. It’s nowhere near the level of the more cynical tourist traps that have developed over the years in famous places in Italy, but it seems to get a little closer every year. Don’t let me put you off them though - we notice the change from previous visits, but you’ll approach with a fresh perspective. Personally I very much preferred Treiso, Monforte, Serralunga, Castiglione Falletto, La Morra and Verduno (and look forward to visiting Neive and some of the more outlying Barolo villages)

Winery ‘opening times’ aren’t rigidly set out, but the Langhe / Roero site above does list the times they’ve been advised by the wineries - as well as days of the week they’ll take visitors, with some only doing weekdays and I suspect some also still respect the traditional Italian later start on a Monday. Appointments almost universally required, though oddly we had a wonderful drop in chat at a small old-time producer in Serralunga d’Alba (where his ‘cellar door’ was his front room).

Now the questions:

  • Time of year. Recommendations may be different if you are going in winter or summer, or inbetween.

  • Hotel or self-catering apartments? We always favour the latter for the extra space, freedom of timings and flexibility to eat out or stay in and crack a few wines picked up at the wineries. Indeed this latter option can be very useful if you have limited room on the flight to take wine back, thus allowing you to buy at least a bottle at each tasting, without ending up with too many to take back. We’ve stayed self-catering in Treiso, Monforte, Serralunga and Santa Vittoria d’Alba, plus a B&B in Corneliano d’Alba, so can give feedback on those if thinking about staying in any of those villages. Ditto restaurant recommendations once you’ve settled your plans.

  • Any favourite or “I’d love to go there” wineries? Some of the really grand names are difficult to get an appointment at, but the vast majority are willing and genuinely hospitable. Indeed I can only think of a single genuinely disappointing visit, though in truth I’d expected it from a grand old name resting on their historic name.

Once you’ve started to develop a few names (perhaps start by getting each member of the trip to start by naming a single winery), try to pick other wineries in the same area. Not only is it interesting to compare wines often made from a similar vineyard selection, it’s also practical. Indeed if you put your mind to it, you can schedule visits so there is no driving between arrival and departure of the village, giving the driver the chance to taste freely and maybe even have a small glass of wine with lunch. I tend to make use of google maps to ‘zoom out’ from a winery to see what is nearby. As discussed on other such threads, it can be very rewarding to slot in a lesser known winery to compare/contrast with a bigger or better known winery.

I hope this helps, but happy to cover specifics as you start to close in on your preferred location(s)

regards
Ian

p.s. 2-3 tastings per day is a great target. That allows you to factor in anything from a lazy start, through a walk through the vines (an under-appreciated opportunity), a nice long lunch or even a post lunch snooze to recuperate.

Ian,
Thanks so much for the response.
-We are planning on going the first half of June
-There will be anywhere from 5-9 in our group depending on who commits
-Not sure on Hotel or self-catering apartments. Would the size of the group make a difference?
-The leader of our group runs a wine store, so he is planning on reaching out to importers/Producers over the coming months. I think we tend to favor more “Traditional” producers, but in the end, tasting great wine with great producers in the most important factor!

Hi R M
First half of June will have nice long evenings - might be getting a bit hot for some of us, but maybe cooler than Florida?

I think the accommodation depends on the preferences of the group. Many like the simplicity of hotels along with their permanently manned front desk. For us apartments give us more flexibility and also allows me to graze the markets and specialist shops for food. It is possible to find some apartments where your group could rent all of the apartments in the place you stay, giving your group the flexibility to think about maybe having the odd meal / bbq together in relaxed surroundings.

Santa Vittoria d’Alba isn’t within the Barolo region, but is only ~ 10 mins in the car from Verduno, maybe another 5 mins to La Morra. It also has a railway station if anyone fancies skipping the wine and heading to Alba or Bra under their own steam. The place we stayed at there was very good, with a pool, pleasing grounds (inc. bbq), very clean & well-fitted apartments of two bedrooms & large kitchen/diner/lounge on the whole of the ground floor. Breakfast included. http://www.valdispinso.it

Also good value, but not quite as well-appointed was http://www.larosagialla.it which is run by an offshoot of the Vajra family. The location is good, a short walk from Monforte (a great village) and the variety of the apartments might work for a group, with some wanting to share, whilst others may prefer a smaller place to themselves.

I grappoli between Serralunga and Castiglione Falletto is owned by the wine producing family of Franco Boasso www.gabuttiboasso.com and the apartments were well-fitted and good value, but the drawback would be not having anywhere (IIRC) to hang out as a group.

There are loads of other places, including some that combine apartments and hotel / B&B. I recall Gioca dell’Oca was warmly recommended by someone here.

However there are also plenty of hotels on Alba, should you like the evening convenience of many restaurants to choose from & being able to walk to them. Somewhere like Santa Vittoria would be slightly limiting with only 2-3 restaurants in walking distance.

Probably best for the group to gather preferences on accommodation & location, then take it from there. Nice also to work out a way that one person isn’t left doing all the driving and missing out on unworried tasting. Staying in one of the Barolo / Barbaresco villages can at least give you the option to have one day where you all walk to the wineries.

regards
Ian

Ian,
Thanks again. Looks like after we come to a decision on where to stay and what wineries we are interested in, you will be better able to make more specific recommendations. I look forward to “picking your brain” [cheers.gif]

We always stay at Castillo di Sinio.It’s a restored castle and handy to all the Barolo vineyards and Alba.It’s runby a wonderful woman named Denise who is an American and is a great chef and host with a good knowledge of the area.Look it up on google and I’m sure you will love it.

Piazza Duomo in Alba. A restaurant not to miss. One of the greatest in the world.

This might be of some help:

I’ve eaten at two of the restaurants listed and agree with AG’s assessment.

Ok, dates/location/lodging booked. Will be staying at Uve Rooms and Wine Bar in La Morra ( stellar reviews) from Sunday June 11-Thursday June 15. Now will focus on wineries and dining. Not all restaurants need to be 3-stars…would like a mix of great and under the radar gems. But all of the wineries need to be great [wink.gif]

Hi R M
Sounds great and you have the advantage that evening food can be accessed on foot, avoiding relying on a designated driver. Hopefully others will chime in with recommendations. Just two restaurants we’ve eaten in La Morra:
Belvedere - Used to be the grand destination with great food to match the great views. They had an almighty wobble, such that on our second visit there was juts us and a couple of businessmen in there. FWIW the 1st meal (before the big wobble) was excellent and the 2nd meal (after the big wobble) was also pretty good. It’s been a few years since then, so I’ll be intrigued to hear more recent views. By all accounts, we were lucky to miss the intervening years.
Bovio - Heading down the hill towards Annunziata, but very much in walking distance - very good indeed with very good pasta (last time we visited made by a young member of the extended Vajra family!).

For wineries in walking distance:
Marcarini - for some reason we’ve yet to visit, but that’s so surprising considering how highly I regard them. They’d be on my list to visit
Roberto Voerzio - Not one I would be excited to visit, but very close and would be a ‘chalk and cheese’ comparison to Marcarini.
Ciabot Berton and Rocche Costamagna both offer the prospect of good value if you’re looking for more inexpensive wines, and both are in easy walking distance. Out the other side of La Morra, the very good value & utterly under the radar Serradenari are at Via Bricco del Dente 19, whilst a little further on towards Barolo gets you to Michele Chiarlo.

Heading down into Annunziata (also very feasible to do the day on foot) gives the headline modernist Elio Altare, but also some very decent modern leaning wineries nearby. One favourite of ours is Mauro Molino, with the children now very heavily involved and they are hospitable and professional. Corino and Mauro Veglio are other options. Very much NOT a modernist is the remarkable Lorenzo Accomasso who I’d only recommend if someone in your party has modest to decent Italian language skills. The tasting room is basic in the extreme, but the insight was wonderful. Another different angle is Renato Ratti, with their space age (for the region) cantina, blended into the landscape. I’m not impressed by the wines, but it was a very good winery tour, with them being genuinely enthused about the workplace.

There are some really great walks if you fancy some fresh air and great views between wineries. One option is to walk to Barolo via Cerequio and a few other famous vineyards. We did a nice circular walk from via Alba (near Cascina Ballarin) into Barolo and then off towards La Morra / Cerequio, before cutting down through Brunate and past the colourful chapel (Tremlett/De Witt). Only a few steepish sections, mostly just joyous strolling through vineyards.

Finally, for a good short hop (morning or afternoon could suffice) Verduno has a handful of good wineries and will feel notably unspoilt compared to La Morra and Barolo.

regards
Ian

Thanks so much…Making a list!

Roberto Voerzio is one of the best producers of Barolo (IMHO). Pricey @ €70 per person but it’s a tasting of 6 wines. A few others I highly recommend are Luciano Sandrone, Paolo Scavino and Vietti.

Hi there,

I’m an American expat living in Alba, the primary wine town between Barolo and Barbaresco. My husband and I do wine tours and I have a blog with a lot of valuable resources for navigating the area. For your group size, we have friends who rent a gorgeous villa in Novello, one of the winemaking areas of Barolo. It’s right in the vineyards with a pool, full kitchen, sleeps 12 with 5 bedrooms. You can find a profile on my blog here, Finally A Barolo Villa Rental: Villa Ribota - Girl's Gotta Drink .

You can also find producer profiles, tips for navigating the region, two dining guides (one for Alba and one for Barolo & Barbaresco), a list of walk-in tasting rooms (there are not a lot here!), things to know about wine tasting in this region and a lot more. Links to all here, Piedmont Travel Archives - Girl's Gotta Drink.

I hope it’s helpful for your visit to the region. It’s a magical place!

Please contact me if you have any planning needs! Val

I spent four nights in june 2016 in the area. We stayed in La Morra - we chose it based upon being one of the larger villages, so we could walk to dinner at least a couple of nights and avoid messing with the car. We stayed at Uve and it was outstanding. Another consideration might be Neive, the hotel Borgo Vecchio looked great and we had our best meal at its restaurant, Donna Selvatica.

The villages are much smaller and quieter than I had anticipated. I had expected to spend more time walking around in each village, but truthfully, you can walk around each village and see its sights in less than an hour. They generally have a communal cantina where you can taste wine from all of that villages producers. There is a large center in Barolo proper, I forget the name, where you can taste the majority of all the barolo producers.

After day one, our daily plan changed to: starting in La Morra (or driving to a village slightly farther away) and hiking through the vineyards to another neighboring village, 90 minute walk. Have lunch, walk around the village, hike back to the car, visit that village’s cantina and taste for an hour, and drive back to La Morra. Wasn’t exactly the plan I had started with, but ended up working out fantastically. I would definitely recommend a lunch at Centro Storico in Serra Lunga D’Alba!

June will be a great time to visit - not too hot and still very quiet with few tourists. Have fun!

We just returned from a great week in Piedmont, and we stayed at the above residence. There were 4 kids (between 5 and 8 years old) and 7 adults. We had a blast and would highly recommend staying here. It’s situated near Vergne within walking distances of the villages of Novello and Barolo, right in the vineyards of Bergara Pezzole. The owners basically offer a concierge service, coordinating winery visits, bicycle rentals, restaurant reservations and a truffle hunt for our party, none of whom spoke Italian. If you have a large party, I would recommend staying here. Their link is here http://www.villaribota.com/

Any restaurants to recommend with great wine lists? Deep and reasonably priced list.

My husband and I were on Piedmont a few years ago, and we enjoyed staying at the Langhe Hotel. The proprietor was a fine gentleman who went above and beyond to make his guests feel welcome, and they had bikes for guests to use which we appreciated.

Our favorite restaurant in Piedmont is L’osteria del Vignaiolo in La Morra.

Hi JT
Probably best to say which village(s) you’ll be staying in. Ideal to have somewhere in walking distance!
regards
Ian

OK, we’ve got a schedule for Mon-Wed:

-Monday we’re at Vajra at 11:30 and at Altare at 2:00 pm.
-Tuesday we are in Castiglione Falletto with Scavino at 9:45 and Vietti at 2:00.
-Wednesday we will be up in Barbaresco (village) at 10:00 for Produttori and then at 2:00 for Marchesi di Gresy

Question is, we will be arriving in La Morra Sunday around lunch time. Do you know of any wineries in La Morra open for visits on Sunday?