My wife and I are just back from a great week in (mostly) Italy, and I thought I’d share what may be some useful ideas for someone, as I took a lot of ideas from posts here.
We flew into Geneva and made the nearly three hour drive to Aosta, which was our first night destination. We had to take the long way around the northern side of Lake Geneva, as the tunnel at Chamonix was closed, but the drive is incredibly pretty.
We stopped for breakfast at a great cafe in Morges, which was also having its Saturday market.
We were dead-tired, but still enjoyed a nice early dinner at an Aosta restaurant called Saint-Vout, where we ordered a few Aosta wines by the glass. Then a tour of the main pedestrian thoroughfare, a stop at a big supermarket for some provisions, and back to our nice guestroom at Veccio Mulino, which was a convenient place to stay and little more than $100 euros a night.
The next two nights we stayed in Nizza Monferatto, and I had two tasting appointments on the way down. First, we stopped at La Casaccia in the pretty hillside town of Cella Monte. A standard but enjoyable tour through their cellar followed by a seated tasting of about 6 wines, all paired with snacks. Tried stainless and oaked versions of grignolino and barbera, a chardonnay, and a freisa that had a few years of bottle age. The wines were all excellent and I would happily drink any of them regularly. Bought the freisa for something like 19 euros? A great first stop and a good introduction to Monferatto.
(Just outside of Cella Monte)
My planned second stop cancelled on me at the last minute, but La Barbatella was able to accommodate me on short notice. The winery is on a hill outside of the town of Nizza, and it was a seated tasting. Tried a cortese, a chardonnay, a cab-based wine, a Nizza barbera and a Nizza barbera reserva. These wines were maybe a touch flashier than La Casaccia, but once again, all very good. Also, all paired with absolutely delicious little snacks for something like 20 euros per person. I bought the chardonnay. Very friendly host here annd another easy recommendation.
In Nizza, we stayed at a recently renovated farmhouse Bed and Breakfast just outside of town called Al Tirabuson, and it was outstanding. Large, comfortable rooms, great breakfast, super friendly hosts. Dinner night one in Nizza was at La Preja, and the food was outstanding. 4 course prix fixe for two with ~5 glasses of wine was something like 140 euros.
(First course at La Preja)
Monday morning we rented e-bikes through a local company and did one of the pre-selected rides of about 30 kms. Our one planned stop on the route was the grappa distillery Berta, where we joined a group of about 6 Norwegians for an English language tour at 10 a.m. Grappa has never excited me, and my interest level was not really elevated; still, an excellent, frequently fascinating tour and it was fun to taste various expressions of grappa. The tour and tasting was completely free.
(Nizza area countryside)
I wasn’t sure when we would be done with our bike ride, so I didn’t make any Monday winery visits. Instead, we popped into the regional community enoteca in Agliano Terme, and then Nizza. I absolutely love places like this: each had hundreds of labels from different producers for sale, and each had a rotating group of bottles open to taste from one of those wine dispenser contraptions. My idea of a good time is someone giving me a spit bucket and eight different local barberas for a few Euros. Bought a bottle at each of these stops.
Second Nizza dinner was at the enjoyably named Bun Ben Bon. Food slightly more rustic–I had a cut of veal and fried potatoes–but a killer wine list and friendly service.
Nizza definitely felt off the main tourist track, and we did not meet or hear another American in our two days here. Had a fantastic time here—great good, lodging and wine, even if I didn’t come away in love with Nizza barberas.
Our next two nights were at Palas Cerequio, which is located in the middle of the vineyards almost exactly between Barolo and La Morra. Heading to Barolo, we stopped first at the Banca Del Vino on the grounds of the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollentia. This is something like a strategic reserve of aging Italian wines, with cases and cases of wine from producers all over Italy. They have a rotating collection of 32 open wines that you can try while you walk through the cases.
(The banco del vino)
We stopped in a nearby Eataly to do some shopping, and then backtracked a bit to Barbaresco, where I had made an appointment at Albino Rocca.
One of the owners gave us a brief tour, and then opened five barbarescos and one barbera d’alba. Wines were superb. A great first stop in nebbiolo country.
(Barbaresco)
We then made a quick stroll around La Morra and tried the wines the regional enoteca had open for pouring before checking into Palas Cereqio, which is very nice and ideally located. Great dinner this evening at L’argaj in nearby Castiglione Falletto—probably my favorite of the trip. Definitely some American voices at other tables at this point.
After a short e-bike ride in the morning, we made our way to Verduno for an appointment at Fratelli Alessandria. There were about 7 other people on the tour, which our guide said was bigger than usual. Standard issue but enjoyable tour ended seated around the table, where we tried a favorita, a pelaverga, a lange nebbiolo and a few barolos. Wines were all great and the host was extremely hospitable. Left with their base barolo, which bears a commune di verduno label and seemed like a nice deal at 38 euros.
Short stop by the Castello di Grinzane Cavour historic site and the Barolo enoteca (more wine dispensing machines) before our second appointment of the day at Mauro Molino on the outskirts of La Morra. My wife and I were the only people on this tour given by an extremely friendly young woman, which included a tasting of a Langhe chardonnay, a Langhe nebbiolo, a barbera, a few SV barolo. She also threw in a 2004 nebbiolo/barbera blend as a curiosity—still very much going strong at 20. I’m a broken record at this point, but the wines were all great. Actually had perhaps the best barbera of the trip here, but walked away with a single vineyard barolo, which at 60 euros was the most expensive bottle I toted home in the wine check at trip’s end.
Dinner was in La Morra at the well-known Macine e Moto. Tempted by the bottle list, but ended up with a bunch of fun stuff by the glass, much of it 5 euros a piece. Great, casual food and friendly service here.
(BTG list)
On our last day, we were sleeping about 30 minutes outside of Geneva in Cruseilles, France, and had a spectacular drive through the Savoy. I skipped the wine tasting opportunities, but we stopped for a couple of hours for shopping and sightseeing in the charming Chambery, and the slightly less charming but still cool Aix-les-Bains.
Our final night was one of our coolest stays, at Chateau-des-Avenieres in Cruseilles. We drove up, up, up the mountain through a cloudline to get here, and the setting is spectacular.
(View from Chateau des Avenieres)
Packed up for flight ahead and ambled downstairs to the very good restaurant for hearty alpine fare and a bottle of Tabordet Pouilly-Fume. Great food and a nice change-up after all the (excellent) Italian fare.
And then we flew back to reality. Overall, a wonderful week in Europe, with great food, wine and hotels for what I consider to be a reasonable cost. I crammed a lot in, but we never felt rushed. Piemonte is on every wine lover’s radar, but there’s definitely a lot to discover in the slightly under the radar Monferatto, and I’ll plan to return at some point.