TorreBarolo Blog

On March 6^th/7^th, the annual “Cioccolato alla Corte del Barolo Chinato” returns to Barolo. For these two days, there will be tastings of 20 versions of Barolo Chinato, which is an aromatized digestive wine with an alcohol level between 16% and 17%. It is created by adding a sugar and alcohol mixture that has been left to absorb various spices with a Barolo D.O.C. 

This recipe is actually a prescription that was used at the end of the 1800 in the pharmacies of Chaplain of Serralunga and Zabaldano di Monforte d’ Alba to fight malaria, but since this produce has been enjoyed in the bars and vermoutheries.

Barolo Chinato production is small so this event provides a unique and fun event to sample this delicious (yet potent) liquor alongside several types of chocolates and desserts from some of the best confectionery houses in Piemonte, like Baratti & Milano and Novi & Venchi.

The event takes place in the Regional Wine cellar in Barolo and the tasting begin at 10:00. And if you can’t make it to Barolo, this event will take place in Turin on the 13^th/14^th of March at the Barolo Palace of Turin (Via delle Orfane) where some of the best pastry chefs in Turin will offer visitors their specialties for coupling with the tasting of the Barolo Chinato, and then again on the 27^th/28^th of March at the Relais Club Venchi of Cuneo (Piazza Europe). We do have availability at TorreBarolo for that weekend, so book now to get your cholcolate and wine fix!!!

Having been touring the Langhe for over 10 years, I wonder why I have never considered a visit to Acqui Terme, as it is only an hour north of TorreBarolo, and 30 mins of it is autostrada driving. Well, last week I finally made the journey as a new friend of mine, Diana Baur, lives there with her husband Michael and together they own and operate a wonderful B&B.

Acqui Terme is an ancient Roman spa town where the mineral rich waters are captured in the towns Terme. In addition to the public Terme, there are private spas and high end hotels that also harness this naturally rich water and it is integral to their various spa treatments, the most well known being the Grand Hotel Thermes.

From Diana’s house, you can see the Alpi mountains of Liguria, so I guess it should be no surprise that this little city (population 23k) has more of a Ligurian than a Piemontese/Langhe feel. The buildings are all shades of pastels and with the palm trees and fountains one feels like they are at a seaside resort vs a  medieval hill top city.

What is most impressive about Acqui Terme is the complete renovation of the historic center. Diana and Michael explained to me that awhile back the residents of the historic town center were given two choices: interest free loans to renovate their buildings or else up and sell to the Comune.

Well, it was a clever idea because given the wide streets, grand piazzas and pedestrian walkways, it is a pleasure just strolling around the city center as each corner brings a photo opportunity. Diana summed it up well by saying it is a very precious city.

The wines in the area tend to be more Barbara d’Asti, Dolcetto and the sweeter wines (ie. Moscato). Surely booking in a spa treatment would be a pleasurable way to spend part of the afternoon if you venture there (I certainly will try on my next visit) and if you find yourself in the city center around aperitvo time, Diana took me to a lovely wine bar, La Fonte del Vino, that has tables outside in the piazza in the summer time and the best buffet of nibbles I had seen in a long time to enjoy along with your glass of wine.

So, of all my “A” neighbours, Acqui Terme would be #1 on my list. Alessandria #2, and Asti comes in a poor #3 relative to the competition. As I mentioned earlier on, Aqui Terme is only 1 hour away from TorreBarolo, but if you want to spend more time in this little gem, I’d highly recommend you booking at Diana’s B&B.

I love it when a restaurant surpasses my (American) expectations and last week Bovio did just that.   My good friend Jennifer was staying the weekend with me in Barolo and as a thank you she suggested I book a nice restaurant for Sunday lunch. Always happy to oblige, I selected Bovio which I saw as a new entry in my 2010 Alice Food Guide. I recognized the name as the winery of the family that has run “Il Belvedere” in La Morra, a favourite of mine, especially after the redecoration a few years back.

The guide informed me that the family had left the premise of Il Belvedere and was now in their own building that was nestled among the vineyards in La Morra, less 10min by car from TorreBarolo.

Lucky for us, the 7^th of February was a stunning clear and sunny day as this building offers one of THE BEST VIEWS I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying while dining. My photos don’t do the view justice nor do I think their website. Just trust me on this one. 

One of my bugaboos about the selection of restaurants in the Langhe is that there are few elegant restaurants where one might go to celebrate an event and where it is as much about the setting and service as it is the food. Bovio ticked all the boxes for me.

Firstly, the building is perched on the side of the hill and given this was a custom-designed building they made the most of these stupendous views by installing windows that are vast, low as well as being architecturally appealing. We were lucky and got the best table in the dining room which was in the center of the room and directly in front of the window. Most of the tables offer great views, par one that seated two, was next to a wall and one of the diners had a view of a palm tree and wall.

There are two rooms to the restaurant and we peaked into the other one on our way out. There are no views in this room though it is has funkier vibe given the choice of wall paper. I spied a few baby highchairs at tables in this room and deduced that is where families are seated so as to not disturb the other diners.

Aside from the amazing views, the room is a comfortable size (i.e., not too big or too small), the tables are well spaced out and the table are beautifully laid out. And as a plus, when we arrived all the tables already had a varied selection of freshly baked mini-rolls and focaccia accompanied by some of the best butter I have had in years … yep, better than Beppino Occelli !

There was a tasting menu as one would expect in this calibre of restaurant (€44), though we opted for al carte.  Although not on the menu, I requested an Antipasti Misti (which they graciously obliged) which included Vitello Tonnato, a Millefoglie of Peppers with Tuna and Capers from Pantelleria and a Tort/Quiche in a creamy cheese sauce. For primo, I selected the Risotto al Barolo with Bra Sausage (little twist on the classic they have done at Il Belvedere) and Jennifer had her favourite, Tagliolini with Veal Ragu. Both pastas were light, delicious and we could have eaten more easily. For secondo, I opted that we split their Small Fritto Misto (Fried Mix), as I was curious as this isn’t something you often see on menus. It consisted of small pieces of meat, poultry and vegetables in semolina breadcrumbs that were lightly fried.  Too full for dessert, we opted for coffee and that was accompanied by petite fours that were more than enough to cap off the meal with something sweet.

The menu offers an extensive offering of starters, first and seconds so I have no doubt each diner would find something that tempts their taste buds. The room was full that Sunday but the service remained consistently excellent.

Jennifer was charged for 1 glass of wine (though she was served two) and the bill came to €80. Now, I know it is not hard in the Langhe to eat excellent pasta and yummy antipasti for €40 each, but I believe the premium was well worth it given the combination of a stupendous view, excellent service and very high quality food. Personally, I can’t wait to find an event that needs celebrating and go back to Bovio to enjoy a lunch that makes you say out loud … “life is good!!!”.

Bon Appetite and be sure to book in advance.

It was a real treat the other night to tag along with my local friends to a sneak preview of the new museum inside the 15th century Castello Faletti, since it’s only a 5 minutes walk from TorreBarolo. The castle has been closed for more than a year as it has undergone a complete transformation and expansion, with the official opening in the next few months. 

I had toured the castle once before and to be honest, other than the library of the famous Italian writer Silvio Pellico, there wasn’t anything interesting in the castle other than the Enoteca that had a massive selection of old Barolo bottles and of course the possibility to do tastings.

The best way to describe my overall impression of the new museum is to say that it is more a wine fun park than traditional museum. Gone are the boring displays of vintage wine making equipment and dusty bottles of wine. In its places is a wild world that attempts to capture the cycle of a wine’s development. I don’t want to give away all the surprises but out of the 5 floors and probably over 20 rooms that I toured, there are 3 that reflected that you are actually in a castle.

The architect of the renovation is famous for doing the Film museum in Torino. Upon entering, the first thing you see is a elegant and super contemporary cylinder glass elevator with a glass landing that leads into the first room, which is a wicked room with crests and shields on the ceiling and a fireplace large enough to stand in. It is certainly a room I hope the commune decides to rent out for private functions.

Of the wackier rooms is a room that represents the land, as effectively they are attempting to have you experience being a root of a vine. There is a room that is the sun that is painted bright yellow with a mirror floor, followed by a moon room where a giant moon that rotates throughout the room. Entrance into each of the different rooms brought to mind: “what on earth” or “how bizarre”, or “how cool”.

Not all of the features were in place but it was explained to me that in of of the larger room on the 1st floor there will be talking mouths to explain the history etc of the area and wine making production. My favourite room was the cinema complete with movie billboards of movies about wine, leather club chairs, red velvet curtains and I was told they will run clips of a selection of movies that focus on wine (i.e. Sideways, A Good Year, etc…). Below the main floor, the renovation included digging out 2 new floors and these gigantic bunker-esque rooms will be used for virtual lecture rooms to showcases a variety of wine experts. 

There will also be an Enoteca, though our guide didn’t have the key to that room. The castle is missing a cool hip bar where you can sit and ponder the bizarre exhibits but maybe that will be included in the Enoteca.

The grand opening is sometime in March/April. They said they didn’t know yet what the entrance fee will be but I got the impression a reasonable fee to encourage visitors. This is certainly a museum that both kids and adults will enjoy and showcases a new thinking in what a museum can be. It is a fun attraction for a small town and one you surely should check out.

………..and the winner is……Ivana Murray, from Dublin, Ireland !!!!!!!! Congratulations Ivana.

We want to thanks everyone that made this such a successful and fun promotion to host. We reached out to many Italian wine, food and travel bloggers to spread the word about our promotion and we were overwhelmed with both the support and enthusiasm. In particular we want to thank the following bloggers for their posts (in no particular order):

Nancy Yos of At First Glass 

Jeffrey Porter of Drink Eat Love

Eustachio Cazzorla, Giornalista e Sommelier

Biagio Tornatore and Cosimo Errede of Eat-Alia

Eric Cohen of Daddy Winebucks

Elora Turci of A Canadian in Italy

Allan Liska of Cellarblog

Andrea Federici of Degustazioni a Grappoli

Constance Chamberlain of Wine Connoisseur 101

Thea Dwelle of Luscious Lushes

Sheila of Italytutto 

Jason Petuck of Corked Wine

Rowena of Rubber Slippers

Denise Lowe of Goddess of Wine

Dana Kaplan of Stresa Sights

Karen Phillips of Andiamotrips

Adrian Petersen of Casa Dolcetto: Italian Insights

Also, we want to thank all of you guys that tweeted our promotion and/or posted it on their Facebook page.

Now, before you think the fun is over, due to the overwhelming enthusiasm, we have decided to run the same promotion later this year so stay tuned and maybe it will be you next time. And for those of you that can’t wait to see if they win a promotion, we are offering a 10% discount on any March-April bookings to TorreBarolo Fans on Facebook. 

Ciao for now from TorreBarolo.