Hey all! I’m planning a trip to France and Italy for next spring. A significant focus of the trip will be on wine. I’m a lover of Bordeaux and Southern Rhone wines. As well as the Langhe in Italy (such as Barolo and Barbaresco).
What are some of the best and coolest wineries to visit in those areas? Best restaurant’s? Cool spots outside of wine?
I’d love to hear about regions outside of those few I listed as well! I’m open to everything and looking to explore as much as possible.
Hi Carson
Often ‘less is more’, so be a little wary of adding other distractions in… unless those other distractions are to bring some balance for a travelling companion, in which case let us know what they’re looking for as well.
If you have a full week in the Langhe, then you could do a lot of tasting, some superb walking through the vineyards (Yay! for shared ownership → open access), plus enjoying a day trip into Alba (and/or Asti) for a historic town. Plenty of other places of interest nearby, but for 6-7 days, the above should keep you busy. The Langhe, Roero (and now Monferrato) tourist office is excellent, and there site will give you some ideas of other things to do there (e.g. a balloon flight?), plus they had extensive listings for wineries, but not sure if that’s been spun off onto a sister site.
Others can advise on those French wine regions, however if you want to do both to a decent degree, I’d challenge on whether it’s sensible to add the Langhe in as well.
Best is a term that’s difficult to answer, as the only objective way typically ends up as ‘most expensive’, but that wouldn’t be what I look for. What I would recommend, is picking a village e.g. Serralunga d’Alba, and looking at the wineries there, and planning (say) 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon, with a good lunch inbetween. On a quieter day, perhaps do something else in the morning, but slot in a winery visit or two in the afternoon. In that way you might start to get a feel for the variations between villages & producers, but mostly you’re not spending time driving everywhere.
Where to stay?
Loads of choice, from a quiet village like Verduno, to the becoming rather touristy Barolo, with lots in between, and a couple on the fringes that are quieter still. We’ve also stayed a short distance away and that can work as well e.g. Corneliana d’Alba & Santa Vittoria d’Alba. Plenty of good accommodation, including a number linked to wineries (see somewhere like Agriturismo.it). Given the time you have, I’d suggest a single base, driving to other villages, but having a day in the middle devoted to your base village, so you can leave the car parked up and walk there and back. It’s quite sensible to let the accommodation that appeals to you drive where you stay.
A couple of wineries that impressed us (amongst many): Albino Rocca in Barbaresco (and walkable from the village), who have a wide range yet seem skilled across that range, including some very impressive whites. Schiavenza in Serralunga d’Alba are a young family, working very hard and with a questing attitude in both winery and restaurant. Boh are good and good value IMO, but I also expect them to be one that improves over time, based on their drive.
I did a decently big Trip Report not too long ago from my trip to Piedmont last year.
If you’re able Alto Piemonte would be pretty cool to go visit some producers there.
Hey Carson!
Just a thought here.
Whenever I travel to wine destinations where my wine preferences lie, I would usually attempt to make, or inquire here if anyone has insider knowledge on, winery visits specific to the producers that I’ve grown to like.
Having said that, perhaps you can cite some of your preferred Bordeaux/SoRhone/Piedmont wines so that those with appointment ideas can react and respond.
Wonderful! I will check out your post.
Thanks!
For sure!
Bordeaux: I love Mouton, Beychevelle, Montrose, Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de la Lalande, etc. Is it worth travelling and visting these high end wineries of wines I love/admire? Or is the experience better else where at a smaller more personal producers?
Pidemont: Elio Grasso, Bartolo Mascarello, Giovanni Rosso, etc
Souther Rhone: Chateau de Beaucastel, St-Cosme, Clos des Papes.
They are all somewhat “heavy hitting names” I enjoy the wines and havent had the opportunity to taste a ton of all of them of course. But they are a large factor into my interest with wine as a whole.
Thanks for the great reply!
Mixing in more of the touristy stuff is a must. A trip over with my partner who wants to explore outside of wine as well. Site seeing, historial stuff, exploring villages, etc. As much as I would love this trip to be 99% wine thats not the case this time around!
While Bordeaux is my prime wine region in terms of owned (and likely drank the most) bottles, I’ve not made it there as often as I do elsewhere because of close proximity to where the head family travel planner, my wife, decides to go . I have visited only 3 wineries: Haut Brion (used their website to arrange appointment), Vieux Chateau Certan (emailed directly) and La Conseillante (emailed directly). If I ever visit again, I’d certainly attempt to get appointments at the “heavy hitters”.
In Piedmont only once and with a very short advanced notice, my hotel then was able to book our very enjoyable visits at Azenda Baralae (in the town of Barolo) and Moccagatta (in Barbaresco).
Southern Rhone: visited Vieux Telegraphe (classy operation/ownership with traditional wines; emailed for appointment); Domaine Pegau (tasting room only; no advanced notice) and a couple of small ones that I unfortunately can’t remember the names.
I also love Saint Cosme and made a point to visit them in July 2022. We arrived close to closing, and if I remember correctly, they don’t do tours (or maybe they weren’t doing them when I was there (or more probably, I just didn’t know the right people to ask). Anyways, we had a nice tasting, and I bought a few bottles to take home and drink during the rest of the trip.
St Cosme is located just outside Gigondas, and there is an annual Gigondas Sur Table event that could be worth doing if you’re in the area at that time. I tried to attend in 2022 but you had to pay be check or in person, and it was just too complicated…
Gigondas 2023 events - Diary • Gigondas
Gigondas sur Table (in July, so doesn’t help you, but might be interesting for someone else)
Enjoy!
We loved staying in La Morra. This small boutique hotel was fantastic and the location right outside of La Morra was perfect. They also have a nice pool which will be welcome if your going in June. https://www.relaislerocche.it/
Our favorite winery visits were Elio Grasso, F. Alessandria in Verduno, Cavallotto and Vietti. Azelia and Brovia are also very close to the hotel we stayed at but we couldn’t fit them in the schedule.
We found the different Barolo villages to be very quiet when compared to Tuscany but every restaurant was full and plenty of people were visiting. It just didn’t feel that way in the broader Barolo region.
Stayed here in La Morra and loved it
Uve
www.uvelanghe.it
We also had a spontaneous visit with Moccagatta when we stayed in Alba, and both their hospitality and wines were great!
Martina was such a great hostess and very disarming. Her dad, Sergio, was quite shy, not comfortable with English and was busy tending to the winery operations. Loved the mon 'n pop set up and authenticity.
Exactly, Martina was a true delight and gave us a cellar tour and a generous tasting before being able to purchase some bottles at a great price… I highly recommend Moccagatta for everyone going to Piemonte!
We stayed at Oddero’s Airbnb that’s about a 3 minute walk outside of Barolo. They have a lovely infinity pool that overlooks the village of Barolo.
It was nice to be able to walk to dinner every night. Next time I would do some different villages for dinner, but I wanted to be able to share a bottle where I was spitting all day. So walk it was.