I was hoping the collective knowledge of WB could pass along some of their knowledge to me. 3 couples are headed to Italy to visit Piedmonte, specifically staying near Serralunga d’Alba. What I could use help in is what would be a great winery to visit that would be nearby? While I would love to taste from sun up to sun down the people I’m going with couldn’t care less about visiting a winery so the compromise is that we could go to only one winery sadly. Any thoughts? Also they all have done the tour amongst the vineyards and really don’t care to do that again so the emphasis is about the setting and quality of the wine. TIA
Hi
The first advice is easy: The region is either called Piedmont (from the Savoy history) or Piemonte (the Italian version), but not Piedmonte. It’s a not uncommon mistake.
Serralunga d’Alba is a nice choice, not very heavily touristed, and with a nice village centre to stroll around.
I’ve got one cute option for your back-pocket of another winery visit you could easily sneak in… Sergio Giuduce on Piazza Umberto I (#15). He’s a charming elderly gentleman, still making Barolo and he accepts drop-in visitors to his tasting room there (it’s his front room I believe). We had a lovely chat with him, and tasted 2-3 wines, buying a bottle to take home.
Of those for the one full visit, I’ve tasted at Schiavenza and (Franco) Boasso (aka Gabutti winery). Both were good, though rather different in approach.
Schiavenza is run by a young couple who have a wonderfully serious, professional and questing approach, her in the restaurant and him in the downstairs winery. It a super place to combine a visit and meal, indeed we did the tasting separate to the winery tour, with that done as a gap between courses in the meal! I very much rate their Barolo wines, but beyond that I think their attitudes are likely to see them get better each vintage. They have a number of single vineyard Barolo wines often in std and riserva forms, so there can be a lot to taste through.
Boasso older and very much an old school winemaker. We’d gone into the tasting not expecting too much, but came away very impressed, and surprisingly it was the rather cheap Barbera that was our wow! wine, partly for value for money, but also it absolutely hit the style we like (at 10 years old there was a touch of barnyard / leather that really suits us).
Neither did vineyard tour, but you do get the usual flow from crusher to fermentation vessels to barrel store to bottles, typically followed by a tasting in the tasting room. We tend to assume ~90 minutes is the average visit length.
We did also taste at Cucco, which was pretty disappointing, but it’s since changed hands, so no idea whether they’ve upped their game.
Other options: Vigna Ronda, Luigi Pira, Ettore Germano (perhaps useful as they have fizze and whites, including a Nascetta), but there are others as well. Let’s see if anyone has any reccos amongst them.
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We tasted at Paolo Scavino and at Cavalotto in 2017. At Scavino, we walked through the caves at were hosted by a guy whose name I forget, but everyone seems to know him and if I recall correctly, his first name was something like Rodrigo. At Cavalotto, we tasted with a member of the family. We went out into the vineyard and talked about the lack of rain that year. They had records going back over 100 years and he talked about the effect of climate change on their picking schedule. Two great visits. AND we made the arrangements at the last minute/
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I’ll always link my Trip report from Piemonte since I made it for this reason.
We did visit Guido Porro which is just outside of Serralunga. While it was my least favorite visit, I will say I think we had bad timing on our part. They were bottling and trying to finish redoing most of their facility so it was strictly a tasting. I did enjoy their wines, the setting and experience was just hard to compare to the other great ones. Their location is gorgeous, overlooking much of the vineyards in Serralunga.
We had a great lunch at Osteria Tre Case in Serralunga.
A meal at Hotel Ristorante Tota Virginia is a must for me. Amazing view, great food and an awesome cellar (ask to see it, brand new).
I second Cavallotto. Great visit, super wines. Also lovely setting and views. Can see the mountain range in the distance.
Off the beaten path, small producer that we visited was Burzi.
All this to say, there are lots of amazing producers and people. The landscape is fantastic, I want to go back.
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Thanks for the correction Ian. Schiavenza sounds like a fun place to go to for lunch. I tried looking it up and I came across this Company - Azienda Agricola Schiavenza - Vini e cucina di Langa only. Is this the place?
Ed
Ian as always have very well thought through replies and suggestions for anything related to Italian travels.
Given the preference and interest of the group my choice would be Massolino (Vigna Rionda), authentic yet elegant enough with a good view of the scenery, and with a very interesting range of Barolo wines. Ever since observing Franco during a Nebbiolo tasting talking with a lady who thought she was tasting Chianti Classico (at very least she had Tuscany in mind), I have admired is gentleman manners.
You could also consider Palladino - have enjoyed the Barolos I tasted a year or so ago but didn’t visit there.
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That’s the one Ed, with Cerretta, Broglio and Prapò vineyard bottlings.
As for the food, there are fancier places for sure in the region, but it’s local to where you’ll be, so hopefully walkable. Food was traditionally styled with their own twist on it subtle. We also ate at Albergo Ristorante La Rosa dei Vini, which was relaxed, but perhaps needs a younger generation to put their mark on it. I remain a fan of walking to/from the restaurant, rather than driving off to a fancier place, so if it’s convenient to you, I’d still recommend it. We didn’t try Osteria Tre Case or Vineria Il Flauto Magico, but both look good, with the latter looking to be in the wonderful tradition of enoteca food - lighter good value food to have with wine, a perfect antidote when the previous meal was a big one.
Oh and talking of walking, I always recommend the walking through the vineyards. Inheritances shared between offspring leads to splintered shared ownership of vineyards, with very few vineyards in the region in sole ownership. That’s a super situation for us, as shared ownership requires open access, so you can walk right through the middle of these famous and much loved vineyards, on typically hardened dirt tracks. There’s a good cheap map available locally in tourist info places, but also a few tourist facing shops. Probably about €15 with inflation.
We did the walk from Serralunga to Castiglione Falletto, which does have a reasonably steep slope at the Serralunga end, so avoid if the ground is noticeably wet underfoot. I suspect the walk across to Monforte d’Alba may be a little flatter. Although it would involve repeating the walk in reverse, we’ve always enjoyed the walk between Monforte d’Alba and Barolo, as at the Barolo end it involves a lovely section through woodland, which can be nicely cooling when warm/hot.
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I’ll throw in a couple of winery suggestions with Moccagatta in the town of Barbaresco where the ambiance veers towards the mom 'n pop operation with, hopefully, Martina the daughter conducting the tour-tasting and with Azienda Barale Fratelli in the town of Barolo to taste and sample some traditional-styled local nebbiolo wines.
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Final thoughts
- As mentioned above enoteche that serve food are a wonderful way to balance out against larger meals, plus often have good selections of wine by the glass, so get you some tasting opportunities and everyone a more relaxed option for eating out
- Alba makes for a good day trip that’s not wine focused (but does have a few wine shops) and a nice option if you’re self-catering. We liked the newish multi-storey car park near the train station as a convenient and spacious place to park, relatively easy to get to, and fairly priced. Market day would add to the appeal, and this is usually easy to find online
- Asti is an alternative, and their market bigger and IMO better than Alba, but as a place to visit we’ve always more enjoyed Alba
Driving there is relatively easy, but it pays to be prepared for the slightly unusual junction on the autostrada near Alba where the road splits between Alba, Bra route and Barolo route. It can be confusing, so google streetviewing it in advance can help.
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Brovia, great wines,very welcoming, several crus.
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Ian,
It looks like Schiavenza is in as well as other options in Serralunga I can run off to by myself if need be. I was just given the location of where we are staying and it seems to be only a good Par 5 distance away. Thank you for your help and to the others who chimed in. Can’t wait as this is the first trip to Europe since the pandemic.
e
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Hope you all have a super trip and enjoy the food, scenery and wines. All are top notch.
I would suggest buying Labor of Love and reading it before going to Piemonte.
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Depends on whether one enjoys Nebbiolo that is aged in (I would say ruined by) barrique. Everyone’s mileage differs.
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Yes, ymmv.
But the original ask by the OP seemingly involved mostly non-geeky participants looking for non-overly-geeky winery visit. I figured I’d share my very pleasant experience that catered to the ask.
Btw, even as most nebbiolo that I collect-keep are non-barrique aged, I’ve enjoyed wines by Moccagatta especially with some age on them.
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Can anyone suggest a reasonably-priced driver with a car to drive a group around the Piedmont area for a couple days? None of us want to drive. Grazie!
“Giacosa” is first class service, located in Monforte, in the center of the Barolo area. I personally highly recommend.
Enjoy !
Thank you! Greatly appreciate it. I’ll check it out.
Glad I could help. If you need anything else regarding the Barolo area just let me know…
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Can confirm Giacosa. I had my 60th bday party in La Morra and they provided those transportation for two days, excellent.