Recs for Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, Piedmont, and Alto Adige — fall trip

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Title: Recs for Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, Piedmont, and Alto Adige — fall trip

Long trip coming up this fall and would love some input from people who know these regions well. Starting in Madrid, moving through Zaragoza, Barcelona, Avignon/Provence, Cannes, then into Piedmont (La Morra), Verona, the Dolomites, Vienna, and Munich. Wine visits are the priority for the French and Italian legs.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Basing myself in Avignon September 17-21. Plan is one winery visit, a walk through some of the village showrooms and the Vinadea maison des vins, and dinner at Le Verger des Papes.

My shortlist for the winery visit:

  • Pégau - getting strong recommendations for this. Village boutique seems approachable without an appointment; is the estate tour worth the extra effort of booking ahead?
  • La Nerthe - good infrastructure, tiered tasting experiences, but I’ve heard mixed things about their recent vintages. Thoughts on current form?
  • Château Mont Redon - seems to have the most developed tour (views from the highest point in the appellation, etc.), though I gather the wine sits a tier below the elite. Worth it for the experience?
  • Font du Loup - less on my radar, open to input
  • Domaine de la Janasse - keeps coming up in research, small family operation, appointment recommended
  • Beaucastel - aware this is hard to get into on short notice but worth a try?
  • Vieux Télégraphe - have been told this is essentially impossible to visit. Is that accurate?

For those who’ve done CdP visits: any strong feelings about which of these offers the best combination of wine quality and actual visit experience?

Gigondas

Planning a separate day from CdP. I have on my list:

  • Domaine les Pallières
  • Château de Saint-Cosme (understand this accepts walk-ins)
  • Domaine de Mourchon (technically Séguret, but nearby - Scottish-owned, English tours)
  • Famille Perrin - does anyone know if they have a tasting room or visit option in the area?
  • Caveau du Gigondas - planning to stop here regardless for a survey of the appellation

For dinner I’m torn between L’Oustalet and Les Florets. L’Oustalet has the better food reputation on the forums; Les Florets has the terrace view over the vineyards at sunset. Has anyone done both?

Any Gigondas producers I’m missing? I know Raspail-Ay and Domaine Saint Damien come up a lot as the freshest-styled estates - are either set up for visits?

Piedmont

Here September 26-29, attending the GoWine event in Alba on the 27th. Can realistically fit two winery visits around that. Current list:

  • Ratti
  • Trediberri
  • Elio Altare
  • Bartolo Mascarello (or Giuseppe - which do people recommend for an actual visit?)
  • Ferdinando Principiano
  • Cascina Fontana
  • Pio Cesare
  • Massolino
  • G.D. Vajra

Also have Cantina Comunale di La Morra as a good multi-producer survey stop, similar to the Caveau du Gigondas idea.

Focusing on Serralunga d’Alba, Monforte d’Alba, and Alba itself, with Castagnole delle Lanze as a stretch if time allows. Who on that list is actually set up for visits? I know some of these are appointment-only and others effectively don’t receive visitors at all.

For food I have a long list: Osteria Veglio, Osteria More e Macine, Locanda Fontanazza, Repubblica di Perno, La Piola (Alba), Bel Sit in Langa, Osteria Lalibera, La Cantina Vineria con Cucina, Vinoteca Centro Storico in Serralunga, and Enoteca Fracchia & Berchialla in Alba. Any must-dos or must-avoids in that group?

Alto Adige

Passing through the Dolomites/Bolzano area and hoping to fit in one winery. On my radar:

  • Cantina Terlano - consistently one of the best cooperative wineries in Italy, spectacular whites
  • Cantina Bolzano - strong reputation, easier logistics
  • Cantina Tramin - known for Gewürztraminer, good visitor setup
  • Abbazia di Novacella - beautiful setting near Bressanone, though a bit further north

If I can only do one, which is the best overall visit experience while also representing the region’s top quality?

Any input appreciated, especially from people who’ve actually visited these producers rather than just drunk the wines. The WB trip reports have been invaluable so far.

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Wrapped up 5 weeks in La Morra last week. Good list - the only restaurant I would add is Osteria Tre Case in Serralunga. There plus Osteria Veglio and More e Macine were our 3 favorites.

Trediberri was great but note that they only do visits on Mondays. I would also add Fratelli Alessandria and Oddero.

I know your list is focused on Barolo but Barbaresco was fantastic as well (especially if staying in/near Alba). The town of Barbaresco has a good Cantina Comunale too. I can share some recommendations if interested.

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Oh does anyone have an idea how much it’s costing to ship a case or half a case of wine from Chataneauf at the Vinothèque or any of the wineries?

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I’ve visted Chateauneuf twice in the last two years. We went to La Barroche and enjoyed the experience. It is not the most scenic winery as it is close to town and the vineyards actually overlook a school. But our host was very nice and informative and poured us quite a few wines. Everyone enjoyed the visit.

The same day, we went over to Vieux Telegraphe without any reservation and got in with no problem. We did not do a tour. The tasting room and grounds were impressive but it was just a woman behnd a counter pouring wines and giving a rote description of them.
The next year I was with fellow Berserker Robert Alfert and we went to Pegau. Robert was able to get us a tour and tasting with the owner, Laurence. We had a fantastic tour and tasting with a history lesson of Chateauneuf and Pegau.

Beaucastel was buildng or renovating a new facility while we were there and they were not open. It is now open and it may be more accesible. I believe the winery featured in the second season of Drops of God is acutally Beaucastel’s new digs.

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Unless things have changed and assuming she has the time, Laurence normally gives the tour. I’ve done it twice and requires a reservation. Pegau is a long time favorite in the area and I definitely agree on the quality of the tour.

If the likes to hike, while in Gigondas, a hike up to the Dentelles is certainly worth the effort. It’s possible to do a half day hike along the Dentelles, through the vineyards and then back to town.

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Stayed 3 nights in Gigondas summer 2024 at Villa St Anne which is a Bed and Breakfast owned by Pierre Amadieu. Loved Villa St Anne.

Had 2 days of tastings. Did one day in CdP - Pegau and VT. Definitely preferred Pegau. it was a nice tour and a good sit-down tasting. VT was as desribed above - simply getting pours of some wines at a tasting counter.

In Gigondas, we did Amadieu as one of our tastings which was decent but not great. The other one we did there was Domaine des Bosquets which was a very nice private sit down tasting with very good wines and nice glassware. Would definitely recommend Bosquets.

We made appointments at all 4 of the above. In addition, did a walk in tasting at Domaine Tourbillon the first evening we arrived in Gigondas.

We did dinner at Les Florets which was a really nice experience. The setting on the terrace over the vineyards was pretty amazing. I did not eat dinner at L’Oustalet which I undertand is supposed to be amazing. We did have lunch at le bistro de l’Oustalet which was good but my favorite meal was Les Florets.

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I just got put on to Santa Duc by a friend who highly recommended it and it seems up my ally. Any idea on visits or when they may open their tasting room/bodega in the town center again?

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So after first half of my trip up to Piedmont I can say the following:

Do not visit the Vinothèque at Châteauneuf-du-Pape - overall a underwhelming experience as was Châteauneuf-du-Pape overall. Piedmont towns like La Morra, Barolo and Serralunga as well as bigger cities like Alba and Asti do seem to actually love and talk about their wines. Châteauneuf-du-Pape offers almost nothing like the experiences at the small restaurants, bars and wineries scattered around Piedmont.

While the Gigondas Caveau has a great and free tasting experience I feel that some of the better stuff is not fully represented there- such as the Perrine families best options. Also when sitting in Gigondas and having gone through tastings of a lot of the other appelation’s and Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines - they come off as worse in comparison overall.

Overall Piedmont is an incredible wine destination. I discovered a lot about my taste for Nebbiolo between tastings at individual wineries as well as the OK Wine event in Alba last weekend. I definitely gravitate heavily towards the traditional and structured Barolo wines. I found Schiavenza to have some of the best wine for the price in the entire region; alongside Sordo, Cascina Fontana and Fratelli Serio e Battista Borgogno. I tried a lot of Barbaresco during this trip (well over 20 bottles) and most of it was a lot less of my liking than the Barolo’s. Same with Langhe Nebbiolo.

Naturally almost everything I tasted was young/recent years with 2019 being the oldest stuff I tasted. So some of this stuff could do better with age.

The availability of great producers in the Piedmont wine shops really need to be seen to be believed. Barolo especially between Vinoland, Barolo House and F.lli Cravero Vini & Grissini have a lot of harder to find stuff covered.

Even other hard to find wine is available in the region. My last dinner of the night in La Morra I spotted a hard to find bottles of Emidio Pepe on the wine list for 65 euros and immediately purchased it for my cellar.

Overall in the area I recommend Vineria Sociale, Winebar Barolo Friends, il Bosco delle Galline Volanti, and Osteria Veglio.

Another note: I expected Timorasso to be a bigger thing here than it was. It’s basically being ignored in the Langhe for Arneis. Nascetta meanwhile is actually the superior white. Battista Borgogno’s latest release is surprisingly good with an incredible amount of smoothness for something that has only seen steel tanks. It reminded me of Burgonian whites in terms of texture and the weight.

Overall a very good trip.

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shame i didnt see this earlier. im not a fan of southern rhone wines but we did love our dinner at l’oustalet. for mid september, dinner outside at sunset was a special moment and we intend to return. food, service and environment were really special. i ordered a burgundy!

where did you end up eating?