Wine travelogue: Piemonte, Burgundy, Alsace, Champagne, Paris (new 4/29)

Alan_Rath · February 16, 2018, 4:15am

My wife and I had a nice Italy/France vacation in late October/early November of last year, spending a few days each in Venice, Piemonte, Burgundy, and Alsace, with a stopover in Champagne on the way home through Paris. I wrote about our visit to Venice here Our first (only?) visit to Venice - Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum - WineBerserkers, since it wasn’t focused on wine. But the rest of the trip was heavily wine-centric, so here goes.

Our base in Piemonte was La Morra, at Hotel Rocche Costamagna. Not so much a hotel, as 4 nice rooms above the winery tasting room. No lounge or facilities, other than a breakfast room, but fine for our needs. Parking in La Morra isn’t easy, especially on weekends, and especially during truffle season. Fortunately, we arrived on a Sunday afternoon as the massive crowds were thinning out from the weekend.

Rocche Costamagna tasting room

Breakfast room

View from our room. Fog and smoke from large fires in the Alps foothills clouded the view most of the time we were there

La Morra

First night’s dinner was at Ristorante Le Torri in Castiglione Falletto, attached to the Hotel Le Torri. One of the more elegant, somewhat upscale restaurants we dined at in the area, with excellent food and service.

A difficult and weak truffle season, but still amazing

2008 still very young, a bit astringent, but moderately drinkable. Since we were visiting the next day, I figured I should drink one of their wines.

Monday morning’s appointment was at Comm. G. B. Burlotto. I confess to not having a ton of experience with Barolo, so relied on local friends and Berserkers. Email the winery, drop some names, and hope for the best! This was a very nice visit, as all our visits were in the area.

Owner/winemaker Fabio Alessandria

We tasted mostly 16s here, and other places. 13 being such a touted and sought after year, most producers have none to sell, or even taste. The Burlotto wines are, in general, very elegant, somewhat lighter style, very refined. Sorry I don’t have detailed notes.

Afternoon visit was to Oddero, in Santa Maria, just outside of La Morra. An excellent tour and tasting, with some wines available for purchase.

Oddero Poderi e Cantine

Tasting room and sales

No detailed notes, but the wines here seem relatively traditional, have a little more depth and intensity than the Burlotto wines. I didn’t see any small barriques here, or anywhere else we visited; only large to very large casks.

Monday dinner was at Trattoria La Coccinella in Serravalle Langhe. Bit of a drive from La Morra, but worth it.

Hazelnut Gnocchi stuffed with Castelmagno chees

Homemade noodles with Veal Ragout

Duck and Porcini Cannelloni

This dinner we passed on the truffle dishes, but learned an important lesson: let the tables around you order the truffles, because you get about 90% of the benefit from the aroma wafting over

Tuesday morning appointment at Cavallotto in Castiglione Falletto. I had no experience with the wines, other than recommendations from a couple of Berserkers, and a local wine shop owner. A very nice visit, their vineyards are primarily right out the back door.

Cavallotto

Bricco Boschis vineyard

Fermentation room

This was a new fermentation tank to me. Must is pumped in through a port at bottom right, there’s a paddle that stirs the tank slowly, in place of punch downs or pumpovers.

One of the barrel rooms

Tasting room

Cavallotto wines seemed a bit bigger and more extracted then our previous two visits (though not at the level of, say, Scavino). A bit more oomph and weight to the wines.

Our last Barolo visit was at Poderi Colla well up into the hills outside of Alba. A salt of the earth family, just now getting more attention, making a wide range of lovely wines.

I realized as I was writing this that I need to be cashiered out of the wine geek ranks, like Chuck Conners having his epaulets torn from his uniform and Champagne saber broken over a knee. Where are the notes? Where are the pithy winemaker quotes? I guess I just sat back and enjoyed each visit without geeking out. What a loser.

Last Piemonte dinner was at L’Osteria del Vignaiolo, in Santa Maria, down the hill from La Morra, stone’s throw from Oddero. Really enjoyed the casual atmosphere, and good, almost home cooked food. Another meal where we just let the truffle aromas from nearby diners waft over us every few minutes.

Risotto con funghi porcini. This was on the menu “for 2”, but at freaking 10 euros, I don’t pass up anything with porcini

Tagliolini tagliati al coltello con ragu di salsiccia - “knife cut tagliolinie with sausage ragu”

Costolette e arrosticini di agnello alla griglia - grilled lamb skewers

A lovely Arneis. So many beautiful, affordable Italian white wines…

And a good thing we didn’t order dessert, because they gave us this complimentary

Sadly, that was it for Piemonte. Early next morning we drove to Torino, dropped the car, and caught the train to Lyon

Next stop, Burgundy…

lleichtman · February 16, 2018, 4:20am

Wow, thanks for posting your wonderful trip.

R_Roberts · February 16, 2018, 4:34am

Ed_Steinway · February 16, 2018, 4:37am

Great pictures, Alan. Thanks for posting!

Thanks,
Ed

J_e_f_f_Pryznyk · February 16, 2018, 4:53am

You just helped me finalize my decision to go to Piemonte next instead of Burgundy

Scott_Tallman · February 16, 2018, 5:35am

Thanks, Alan. I was there last May and we hit a few of the same spots - Oddero, Cavallotto, Le Torre (we stayed in the apartment above the restaurant).

Reading your post brought back very fond memories. Hope to make it back soon.

Matt_Mauldin · February 16, 2018, 5:38am

Wonderful post, Alan. Looking forward to the next.

Marcus_Dean · February 16, 2018, 5:50am

Great post Alan,
Looks like you had a fantastic time

CFu · February 16, 2018, 5:54am

alright, time for the main course. Burgundy!

Chris_Seiber · February 16, 2018, 6:06am

Brilliant post. Thanks.

AAgrawal · February 16, 2018, 7:41am

Loved reading the post. We went to Italy without visiting Piedmont, and though we had fun, Piedmont is still on my list…

Jeff_Vaughan · February 16, 2018, 1:36pm

Thanks for posting Alan. I am in the process of planning a trip, so these threads are very helpful. Please post on your stay in Burgundy. I am trying to decide if we will spend the whole trip in Barbaresco and Barolo, or split it between Piemonte and Burgundy.

Mattstolz · February 16, 2018, 2:08pm

great post! enjoyed the Venice one as well. Looks like it was an incredible trip!

I want that Barolo 3D map! looked for it on the consorzio website and couldn’t track down a place to order it though. dang.

John_Morris · February 16, 2018, 2:51pm

Thanks for the post. Brings back fond memories of many places.

How was the train ride to Lyon? I made that journey 20 years ago not realizing ahead how spectacular the mountains would be. I’d love to do it again.

Alan_Rath · February 16, 2018, 4:50pm

Thanks folks, glad some are enjoying. I really am a bit ashamed I didn’t do a better job of taking notes on wines, I was just soaking it in and trying to enjoy the interactions with winemakers. And I’m still kind of a novice on Barolo. I confess I really don’t “get” it, haven’t had a Barolo in any form that really made me want to become an aficionado, I just wanted to experience the region (and I love, love, love, the food!). Might be a couple of days before I get it together to post on the Burgundy phase, but soon.

John, the train ride was fine. Truthfully, not as scenic as I thought it might be. Also goes relatively slowly, even though it’s classed as a “TGV”. I guess you just can’t go very fast through the mountains; but even on the flats it was just ordinary speed. Decent scenery, but no really spectacular views. But it definitely beats driving! I had originally planned to train to Macon, not Lyon, but because of the All Saints holiday, most rental outlets were closed that day, so I had to get to Lyon airport (which, luckily, is the TGV stop as well) to get a car.

Jeff_Vaughan · February 16, 2018, 5:49pm

Alan, how long was the train ride?

Jonathan_H · February 16, 2018, 6:51pm

Can’t wait to hear more about your travels!

Alan_Rath · February 16, 2018, 6:53pm

I think about 4 hours +/-

Peter_Metzger · February 16, 2018, 6:54pm

Thanks Alan. Looks fantastic. I am extremely jealous.

Ian_Sutton · February 17, 2018, 1:26pm

FWIW we have looked at the direct trains from Paris to Torino which are ~ 7 hours. Not done it yet, but an option for a trip later this year. I doubt we’d do it in both directions, with the thinking that on the way out, the 7 hours will be more relaxing / interesting than the usual flight, but on the return trip we probably just want to get home asap.

A little part of me might see the appeal of potentially larger luggage volume on the train, but there is also the consideration that this has to be lugged to the station & onto the train, lugged off at the other end & into a taxi (the metro surely would be a step too far with heavy luggage), then through security and onto the London Eurostar and then to the car parked at the station before St Pancras. The plane might offer less capacity, but it’s faster and has the big advantage that you’re separated from your heavy luggage and it becomes someone else’s task to move it around. However on an outward journey, the bags are light, so we can even head into London, stay overnight and pick up a decent picnic from Borough Market for the journey that could almost compete with an equivalent one picked up in Torino.