Piemonte: the home of Slow Food and great wine

Alba and Piemonte

Milan departure was pretty easy. Short walk to the Metro with bags in tow, fortunately a bit after peak, but only about a 20 minute commute through to Statione Centrale and our Rail Italia train to Torino. The train station was crowded but easy to manage the systems and our carriage was not at all crowded. Wifi available on the train so the phone was quite a good travel guide.

Countryside very flat, lots of areas planted or being prepared for rice crops and other cereals as well. The weather was fantastic and clear and it’s a bit weird to be virtually surrounded by snow-covered mountains in the distance on both sides of the train. We hopped off a station early to take advantage of the short 60m walk to Avis, saving quite a long walk from Torino Centrale. The advantages of having a well-prepared tour leader.

Time for TomTom to get in on the act after a long time in hibernation since the last trip to Europe a few months ago. Takes a few minutes to get used to sitting on the wrong side of the car, but we programmed in Piazza Savona, 60 km away in Alba and we were under way again in our little VW Polo. When you are visiting old towns, small is an advantage; the towns were built for pedestrians and maybe the odd horse and carriage. We thought we were heading into the hills but it took quite a long time for that to become apparent. TomTom behaved well and although she didn’t send us down any small country lanes this trip, she has definite ideas on how to get places, so you get used to ignoring the signs pointing towards your destination, and go where TomTom tells you. The relationship with TomTom has progressed to just testy now, I don’t swear at her and she gets us to where we want to go. The drive was interesting, lots of small plantings of trees initially. Couldn’t identify them, but found out later they are hazelnut trees. Just one of the region's specialities. Lots of grapes, wonder what they do with those? A lovely drive down to the hills and not a lot of traffic. Starting to feel pretty relaxed. The photo opposite is of Alba with snow in the Alps beyond.

The apartment in Alba is good and very spacious and we took the secure parking inside the buildings courtyard at 8 Euro/day rather than have the hassle of leaving the car in a non-secure public parking lot a short distance away. After the usual familiarisation walk we had an early (for here) dinner at a restaurant with a very minimalistic menu. You rock up to Osteria dei Sognatori and, in effect, eat what they have available for the day. It worked really well for us, Ann had the asparagus and mushroom pasta and I had a lovely tagliarini (very fine egg based noodles) ragu as premi and for secondi, Ann had slices of a yet unidentified slow cooked animal and I had a Brasato al Barolo, a beef and mushroom concoction. This is meat slow cooked in Barolo wine and was all delicious. Nebbiolo is one of the grapes of the region, so we had a bottle of that. The whole event….just 60 Euros. We walked home and were tucked up in bed when the skies opening up and we had some pretty heavy rain and thunderstorms.

Day 1 here was to be a walk in the vineyards, so we drove to the village of Barbaresco and decided to do a loop walk to the hamlet of Neive which we could see across the valley.

This was supposedly a structured walk, a sentiero tracciato according to the map. It took us through the vines and past plantings of hazelnuts (Alba makes Ferrero Rocher chocolates and Nuttelo).

The marking was totally inadequate, but we got to Neive after studiously avoiding a few of the Properte Privata signs that appeared on the 'track'. The rain from last night had turned the earthen walking tracks into gooey sticky mud as well, making the climbs up and down through the vines treacherous and claggy.

But great views and we duly arrived in Neive and completed the return loop. The weather was lovely and sunny and about 22 degrees so warm walking.

We’d been to the supermercato so had a picnic lunch, then visited the local Enotica which has all of the Barbaresco DOCG wines for tasting and display.

The tasting lady was a local, and the tasting was very informative. You pay for the tasting 12 Euro pp and we sampled three of the locals. There is about 750 ha of this DOCG, producing about 4.5 million bottles pa. The usual funny rules regarding yield of grapes, pruning to four bunches of grapes per vine and of course the wine aging on Slovenian oak and then in the bottle. Very long keeping wines, like 10-20 years, they must be patient people these Italians. The Nuova Zelanda connection brought up a “there is a Kiwi working here, been here about 25 years, and he makes this wine………..”

Ross and Michelle had been here on a holiday while they were in London and had told us the story of their lunch at the aforementioned Osteria dei Signatori, where the owner, on finding they were Kiwis introduced them to a local kiwi winemaker Geoff. Same guy, now viewed as a local, and we bought a 2011 bottle of his Barbaresco wine, hopefully to take home, unless the bag gets too heavy for Ann!

The rest of the afternoon we spent wandering in Alba on a lovely warm day. Our meal for the evening was at La Piola in the main Piazza of Alba. The place was obviously popular with the locals and the staff seemed to know each person/group that came in. Lovely food again. Premis of Antipasti Piemonte for Ann, gnocchi for me and secondi of veal, like a backstrap and salad accompanied by a Barolo wine, about 40 Euro range. The guy at the table next to us selected 2006 Barolo at about 120 Euro. It was brought out with a bit of ceremony and the uncorking ritual involved much smelling of the cork by all concerned. Good news, it was all OK.

Ann had commented during the meal that there was an “old guy” sitting in the corner behind me who seemed to have the absolute run of the house, the staff were very attentive and spent time chatting to him. When I went up to settle il conto, he was standing just in front of me and we had a bit of a chat, his English was very good. Nuova Zelanda, boating, Italy, and his daughter is just in the process of moving to work in Christchurch etc. Ann had joined us at this stage, and he made a comment, “You are still young and handsome so you can etc etc’’ My response was, I’m 66 and slowing down a bit” His eyes lit up and his hand shot out to shake mine:  “my age also” he said, and we then continued our chat over a a glass of Barolo Chinato courtesy of our host. He is about to buy a 12m Benneton and go sailing solo, initially to Belize. He was absolutely convinced you are super safe in a little yacht, as you just bob around the ocean like a cork! I’ve read that book to Georgia and Abi and to Sam and Fred!! However we chuckled about "the old man in the corner" all the way home. I feel totally redefined. Funny things happen when you are travelling (for us anyway). It does help if you are prepared to talk to the locals.

Wednesday it’s off to Asti, yes the home of the world famous Asti Spumate, well known even in NZ!

However the target was the local market. TomTom took us initially to the right Piazza but in the wrong town, but San Matteo was a nice place, and we ended up travelling most of the distance on a quiet country road. They plant some very steep slopes here and a lot of the work that is not done by hand is done by little crawler tractors. We saw many being towed around on trailers by large wheeled tractors. Again lots of hazelnuts and lots of vineyards. We passed a large Ferrero Rocher chocolate factory on our travels but didn’t stop in for a taste.

Found a very crowded market and tried to visit, but left after causing a bit of elevated blood pressure (not ours) in the equally crowded car park. Short fuses some of these Italian drivers, and the two handed gesticulation must be quite tiring! On to the market we were looking for, bought some provender and had a wander around and then drove south to visit the Barolo wine district.

We stopped for a peruse of the castle at Grinzane Cavour then across the valley to La Morra, the largest village in this DOCG. That provided great views of the region and we then drove on to Barolo, a little hamlet with a museum on the history of wine which finishes with a wine tasting at the attached enotica.

The wine museum I thought initially was a little fanciful, but it was well done and in fact, it did aim to focus on the culture of wine, its place in history and society and its development over thousands of years. So nothing really about wine production, and unfortunately the enotica was closed on Wednesdays. Fortunately there was a winery just up the road:  Marchesi Di Barolo who do a very good tasting. We purchased again for the international night on our canal boat trip starting May 2. The Nebbiolo grape makes Barbaresco, Barolo and its own namesake, very nice reds, quite tanniny and without a lot of in-your-face fruit. We enjoyed the style.

So we then completed the loop around the area, through steep vineyards and picturesque hamlets, and arrived home late in the afternoon.

Another night eating out again to try the local specialities. The restaurant was very good and we were well-waited on at Locanda Corteletto D’Alba in an old but renovated cellar. My premi was a local form of ravioli called Plin stuffed with ricotta and spinach and with a gorgonzola sauce. Ann’s was Plin stuffed with rabbit, veal and chicken sautéed in butter and sage. Secondi roast pork with hazelnut for Ann and a sausage from Bra with a salad. We tried another local wine Barbera D’Alba, different grape, lighter style but again very good. Most produce came direct from the Langhe hinterland. The rabbit comes from a local grower who butchers to order and delivers, a very traditional food supply chain. Mine host provided a short grappa to help keep us warm on the walk home. It’s all very hospitable dining.

For our last day, we headed to the town of Bra (control yourself please) via Cherasco, another hilltop village with a market to visit to get tonight’s dinner. Close the door, light the lights as the song says we're stayin’ home tonight. Cooking in what’s more. Very simple, fresh asparagus and poached eggs assisted by a Piemonte Chardonnay of uncertain origin. Probably about a 10 Euro event all up tonight. Fragola (strawberries) for dessert.

As we wandered back to the car we noticed hangings on a couple of the doors, announcing new arrivals. Not so relevant in New Zealand where the door isn't at the street but a lovely idea. Bra is distinctive for its architecture, shown especially in its churches. Baroque, Romanesque, Roccoco, with stunning interiors. All very elaborate.

But Bra's second claim to fame is its sausage. Salciccia di Bra. It’s made of veal rather than pork and initially was created for the Jews who lived in the neighbouring Cherasco and wanted a pork free sausage. Google had told us that it is eaten both raw and cooked. Hmmm Anyway the local Tourist Office  girl pointed us to a good traditional bar where we’d have a good experience of it. We duly rocked up and had a fairly confusing discussion in fast Italian where Ann understood just enough to get even more bewildered. In the end we threw our hands in the air and left the host to sort it. We ended up with a huge plate of food, the sausage “star of the dish”, both cruda (raw) and cotta (cooked), Bra cheese and heaps of cooked vegetables. Delicious. With a beer and glass of white wine it all cost 24 Euro. Raw sausage!! When in Rome! It was very tasty.

Tomorrow we depart for Lyon relatively early, driving back to Torino and then by train through the Alps to France. Looking forward to the experience. Italy has been warmer than expected with highs up to 24C but we are about to get cold in Lyon according to the forecast.

Second lot of postcards sent off today, hopefully they arrive before we get back to NZ