Even in the midst of summer, the idyllic vineyard landscapes of Piedmont are rarely invaded by crowds of tourists, and the run-up to the grape harvests, beginning in September, can be an ideal time to visit winemakers, who have more time than usual to let visitors taste their vintages. Great wines are made all over the region, but the key area, just an hour’s drive from Turin, is the Langhe and Roero, separated by the winding Tanaro river. The Langhe’s rolling vine-clad hills produce barolo and barbaresco, two of the world’s greatest red wines. The Roero has started producing its own wines much more recently, including the excellent white arneis, and landscapes here are still a mix of thick woodlands, farmland and, now, vines. There cannot be another part of Italy that is so well-organised for wine enthusiasts, who are welcomed over plates of salami and cheese for tastings, often without making an appointment, while many viticoltori have opened up their wineries as inexpensive B&Bs. Then there is the food. Meals in a Piedmont osteria or agriturismo tend to be gargantuan affairs – antipasto, pasta, a hearty main course and delicious dessert – all at exceptionally good value.
WINEMAKERS TO VISIT
Paolo Manzone
Drive too fast and you’ll miss the sign pointing to a narrow dirt track that zigzags down through an amphitheatre of vines until you reach the cascina (farmhouse), where Paolo Manzone makes outstanding barolo wines and his wife, Luisella, runs a comfy B&B. Paolo is innovative, forever experimenting with new blends and techniques, without abandoning the traditions surrounding barolo’s unique grape, nebbiolo. He describes his crisp, fresh dolcetto d’Alba as “a wine I make for my father - not elegant but rustic and drinkable, like the one he used to travel the countryside with, selling in demijohns”. The round, robust €11 nebbiolo d’Alba is “my burgundy because I believe the nebbiolo grape can stand on its own in the same way pinot noir does in France, and it does not have to come from the narrow confines of the Barolo area to be recognised as a great wine”. He makes two barolos, the traditional serralunga, aged in large, old oak barrels, and the more modern meriame, using smaller French barrels. And he has just built a Fort Knox-like strongroom where he aims to stock 10 years’ of successive vintages to see how they develop – so tastings here in a few years’ time should be even more interesting.
Cascina Meriame, Serralunga d’Alba, barolomeriame.com, +39 0173 613113
Ca’ del Baio
Barbaresco has historically been the “little brother” of the more famous barolo, but when you visit an estate like Ca’ del Baio, you realise that wines made in the Barbaresco zone can reach equally great heights. Three young sisters, Paola, Valentina and Federica, have transformed this family vineyard and Paola explains that when her great-grandfather bought the land in 1900, everyone thought he was mad, as it was worthless woodland. Today a hectare of barbaresco is worth a small fortune. Even their most simple wine, dolcetto d’Alba, – “great with a pizza”, says Paola – is excellent and costs only €6, while the elegant Langhe nebbiolo, from vineyards with the same grape as barbaresco but geographically outside of the denomination, is also a steal at €8. The barbaresco ranges from €18-€25, but will really need to wait a few years before opening. End the tasting with their speciality moscato d’Asti, a unique sweet, fizzy white that has hardly any alcohol.
Via Ferrere Sottano 33, Treiso, cadelbaio.com, +39 0173 638219
Cantina del Glicine
A visit to the tiny six-hectare winery of Adriana Marzi and Roberto Bruno is like stepping back into a different age, when wine was made in a slower, more instinctive way, rather than depending on modern technology. Adriana may look like an eccentric auntie, but once she leads you round the back from the tasting room to the forbidding blood-red door that leads to the cantina, you realise she and Roberto – artisan winemakers – are very serious. This is no mere cellar, but what Piemontesi call a cutin’, a natural grotto that is hollowed out and extended into a maze of damp, cool cellars, perfect for ageing wine. This one dates back to 1582, and is like walking on to a Lord of the Rings set, with mushrooms growing over the mossy walls, greedily gobbled up by snails, dark corners stacked with ancient wooden barrels and alcoves filled with dusty bottles. Their award-winning wine is barbaresco, but even the supposedly less-complex barbera and nebbiolo vintages are seriously intense. And beware – when Adriana tells you how she loves cats, that is the excuse to whip out one of her grappas - “my other great passion”, she confesses - whose labels are illustrated with her feline friends.
Via Giulio Cesare 1, Neive, cantinadelglicine.it, +39 0173 67215/cell: +39 335 8371786
Azienda Agricola Taliano Michele
You don’t come upon the discreet winery of the Taliano family by accident, but it is the perfect address to discover both the quality and value for money that is available in the Roero region. The cantina is hidden at the back of an anonymous 1970s appartment block in the bustling town of Monta (call first because there isn’t even a sign outside). Although they grow grapes in the Barbaresco region, ask the viticoltore, Azio Taliani, to take you to see their vineyards just outside Monta. It’s an adventure safari through thick forests, where the rutted path suddenly opens out on to a spectacular panorama of vines. Azio is a mix of traditionalist and modernist, insisting that old-fashioned cement vats are best – then ageing his wine in old French oak barrels. The results are excellent, from his crisp arneis white, the flagship Roero grape, at €5.50 a bottle, to the 2010 nebbiolo d’Alba at €5, while the outstanding 2009 Roero riserva is aged for three years before going on the market at €11.
Corso Manzoni 24, Monta, talianomichele.com, +39 0173 976100
Cantina Marsaglia
To experience typical Roero hospitality, telephone the bon-vivant Marsaglia family and arrange a tasting in their winery in the heart of the medieval hill town of Castellinaldo. Be prepared for a long visit as bottles are opened, salami is sliced and creamy cheeses are served with delicious jams, homemade from grape must. Emilio may be the fourth-generation owner of this 12-hectare estate, but pointing to his larger-than-life wife, Marina, he declares, “she is the real boss, the one who makes the wine.” The vintages here are simple, honest and reasonably priced, and although 40% of their vines are the easy-drinking arneis, the reds are also surprising. Emilio insists his favourite is the rustic barbera d’Alba, saying: “You can start drinking this in the morning with bread and salami and carry on till evening with a steaming plate of spaghetti - it is our drinking wine here in Roero.”
Via Mussone 2, Castellinaldo, cantinamarsaglia.it, +39 0173 213048
OSTERIE AND AGRITURISMI
I Love Ba, Nieve
The Ba in question is barbaresco, and this enoteca-cum-osteria has just opened in the medieval winemaking village of Nieve. Downstairs in the enoteca, 50 vintages of local barbaresco producers are on sale, and there is no add-on to the price when you order upstairs in the osteria. The tiny dining room of half-a-dozen wooden tables is squeezed into the attic, and the young enthusiastic owner, Fausto Mascarin, is a mine of information. The dozen wines sold by the glass change each week, and Fausto is always ready to open bottles from the enoteca downstairs. Best bet for lunch is the set of three antipasti for €10 - carne all’albese (veal carpaccio), vitello tonnato (sliced roast veal with a creamy tuna and caper sauce) and peperoni con bagna cauda (grilled peppers topped with an unforgettable mix of anchovies and garlic).
Via Borgese 10, Neive, facebook.com/ilovebarbaresco
Cascina Vrona, Monteu Roero
This farm is high in the hills above Canale, the winemaking capital of the Roero region. Rino Sandri does not make his own wine, but he grows and breeds just about everything that his wife, Piera, cooks for the restaurant: pigs, cows, chickens, rabbits, goats and a huge vegetable garden. Her €27 traditional Piedmont menu is an eight-course feast, from home-cured salami to a flan of Jerusalem artichokes with tangy gorgonzola, thin tajarin noodles with a wild mushroom sauce and tiny agnoletti (ravioli) cooked with butter and sage, veal cheeks braised in red wine, and the best hazelnut cake you’ll ever taste. Locally produced Roero wines like arneis and favorita, nebbiolo and barbera are almost the same prices as from the winemaker, and if you eat too much and feel like staying the night, this is also a B&B, with a double room costing €65.
Frazione Sant’Anna 6, cascinavrona.eu, +39 0173 90629/cell: +39 338 9006039
La Torricella, Monforte d’Alba
Book a window table in the smart dining room of La Torricella on a clear day and the views are sensational: mesmerising lines of vineyards against a stunning backdrop of the snow-capped peaks of the Alps. And the cuisine is just as impressive, as young chef Alessandra cleverly presents classic Piedmont dishes in a light, creative way: delicate puff pastry stuffed with succulent porcini, crunchy cardoons oven-roasted with sausage, a fabulous salad of freshly picked spinach, goat’s cheese and wafer-thin slices of black truffle. There is a serious €30 five-course set menu, but for a lighter meal, handmade pasta dishes are €9, while a tasty main course, such as wild boar with polenta, costs €12. This agriturismo is an exciting new project, run by three twentysomething siblings – Alessandra the chef, Silvia the winemaker and Oscar, who looks after the five-room B&B (doubles from €65). The restaurant also has an excellent selection from barolo winemakers in surrounding villages.
Località S. Anna 98, latorricella.eu, +39 0173 78327
VINEYARD STAYS
Ada Nada, Treiso
It is difficult to imagine a more friendly welcome than that from Elvio and Annalisa in their rambling 17th-century farmhouse that serves as wine cellar, wood-beamed tasting tavern and B&B. Rooms are spacious, brightly decorated and tastefully furnished, and guests have use of an ultra-modern kitchen/dining room if they want to eat in. Breakfast is a serious affair – prosciutto, salami, goat’s cheese, two or three freshly baked torte – and in summer it is served on a shady terrace overlooking rolling vine-clad hills. Treiso is in barbaresco country, and these are wines that really need to be aged before drinking. Fortunately, Elvio is one of those rare winemakers that has a stock of old vintages, and it is tempting to pay a few euros more to buy a barbaresco that does not need to be laid down for a few years.
Via Ausario 12, Treiso, adanada.it, +39 0173 638127. Double room with breakfast £64
Guido Porro, Serralunga
Set in the heart of the greatest barolo vineyards, Serralunga ranks as one of the most beautiful Piedmont villages, with its majestic square tower rising high above a ring of medieval houses. And for the perfect view, check in at the friendly B&B of local winemaker Guido Porro. The four rooms are simply decorated, with rustic furniture, and have spectacular balconies and terraces. Guido is a serious traditionalist, cultivating just eight hectares of vines, and the tiny cantina is a hodgepodge of cement vats and huge old oak barrels. The surprise is that his award-winning wines come at some of the best prices around. The fruity dolcetto and potent barbera d’Alba are difficult to resist at €5, while the smooth, elegant €18 barolo lazzairasco is unbeatable.
Via Alba 1, Serralunga d’Alba, guidoporro.com, +39 0173 613306. Double room with breakfast £60
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