TorreBarolo Blog

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about Alba as a classic regional Piemonte town. One reason I am a big Alba fan is due to the numerous foodie and wine events the city host throughout the year. Given TorreBarolo is just a 15mins car ride to Alba, it is easy to get there and enjoy these events for a few hours. Moreover, given the size of Alba, these events are low-key affairs where you don’t have to worry about queuing to sample a selection of wines or walking endlessly around a huge convention center.

The International White Truffle Fair that commences in October for 2 months is well known and attracts serious foodies given the passion that exists for this mysterious musty smelling fungus. One event that is less well known is Vinum, Langhe and Roreo’s annual wine festival. Vinum’s function is to showcase the mom and pop wineries as well as the regional stars. As many of the smaller wineries don’t export outside the region, I see Vinum as an excellent opportunity to familiarize myself with the vast offerings from the local producers. Also exciting is that the producers use Vinum as the event to release new vintages of Barolo and Barbaresco.

Recently Alba hosted the 34^th edition of Vinum and although I was able to attend, being 7 months pregnant did put a damper on being able to enjoy any of the tastings. The set up this year was different than other years I have attended as this year the organizers decided to contain all the events within three separate marquees/exhibition centers. (I must say I preferred this to walking through the streets of Alba looking for the various kiosks).

This year’s three areas were divided into the following:

Palavinum 1: hosted the “Grand Langhe and Roero wines”. For €12 you would get a ticket book to taste 10 wines, a wine glass, a pouch to carry your wine glass in, a bottle of water and discount vouchers. For an incremental €4, a 2^nd person could join you. Given the quality of wines in this exhibition hall, it looked like a deal to me, especially since I never saw many tickets exchanged and think that as long as you had a pouch and a glass you could go on tasting.

Palavinum 2: hosted both wine and food and was titled “Appetizing Encounters”.  The price for this event was the same as Palavinum 1. The difference with this marquee was that the wines weren’t exclusively from the Langhe/Roero region and were from Piemonte in general, however, most of the placards I saw were of local vintners.  Given I didn’t recognize many of the wineries in this marquee I am going to make the broad statement that this is where the smaller mom and pop wineries exhibit. Also in this marquee there were numerous food producers offering samples of everything from my favourite Castelmagno cheese, to the special Bra salsicca to the delicious local “Torte alla Nocciola” (hazelnut cakes). 

Palavinum 3: hosted the big dogs and instead of kiosks to walk around and sample various wines, there were set times for events and the prices reflected the prestigious wines on offer. For example, there was a retrospective of great Barolo vintages where participates sampled 16 wines for €40. Palavinum 3 events were spread over two days and there were many special events during these days to enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the region’s world famous wines.

Vinum extends over the last weekend in April and first two weekend of May. Mark your calendar for 2011 so you don’t miss out on this excellent wine lover event!

I have written numerous posts in the last year, however, I have failed to write about the one little city (population: 30,000) that I have continuously enjoyed since I discovered the Langhe – Alba, the classic regional Piemonte town … and only a 15min car drive from TorreBarolo.

Often Asti, the main town of the Monferrato, has the pretentions of a provincial capital, however, I agree with those writers that cite Alba as a smaller community that happily conserves much of the best of Piemonte.

Between the end of the 12^th and first half of the 13^th century Alba enjoyed a period of prosperity, which expressed itself in the constructions of fortified buildings (towers) within the town. These towers were a mark of prestige as the higher the tower, the richer and more powerful the family that owned it. There are only four towers in Alba today that retain their original height and are concentrated around the Piazza del Duomo. There used to be so many towers that Alba came to be known as the town of a hundred towers. Although these towers characterize its medieval history, during the renovation of the medieval Palazzo Marro, Roman archaeological finds were uncovered showing traces of Roman Temple that existed during the 1^st half of the 1^st century AD. 

Much of the essence of Alba can be experienced walking down Via Vittorio Emanuele and Via Cavour (both closed to cars) lined with a wonderful mixture of restaurants/cafes, enotecas, clothing stores and gourmet food stores (below I have listed a few). Being the main town in the Langhe, its no surprise that Alba hosts many wine and food related events showcasing the rich wine and truffle production (to be discussed in the second part of this post). However, there is more to Alba than just wine and white truffles as the city also sponsors numerous classical music/chamber music and film events throughout the year that continually refresh the city with new residents/visitors.  

On a first visit to Alba I would recommend heading to the ample parking at Piazza San Paolo and then walking the few minutes to Piazza Savona, which is at the top of Via Vittorio Emanuele II, to begin your stroll. Before you turn left to walk under the short expanse of porticoes on Via Cavour you will enter Piazza Risorgimento (aka Piazza Duomo) with the medieval town hall straight ahead and Cathedral San Lorenzo to your right. Very little remains of the principal cathedral that was built between 1486-1517 and in its place is a neo-gothic cathedral built in the 19^th century. Also in this piazza you will find the Alba tourist office that has an extensive selection of free information on local events/tastings/activities in English and German (the tourist office is open all day). Via Cavour is not a very long street so I suggest a little side diversion to Piazza E. Pertinace which is a nice little piazza that host a small organic food market on Saturday.

Most of the Albese stores shut for siesta so be sure to plan your stroll when the stores are open which is until 12:30/1pm and then between 4pm and 7pm. I suggest select a table at one of the numerous outdoor cafes  – my favourite is Vincafé on Via Vittorio Emanuele 12 – and enjoy an aperitif during the evening “passeggiata”, when the locals come out to view and be viewed. Cin cin.

Bakeries and sweetshops

“Pasticceria Cheinasso”, Corso Langhe 88, famous for its torta di nocciole

“Io, Tu e I dolci”, Piazza Savona 12

“Sacco”, Via Cavour 9, for hazelnut cakes and rum macaroons

“Pasticceria Cignetti”, Via Vittorio Emanuele 5, a wonderful old bar/pasticceria since 1878, famous for its torrone. Also try the albesi al barolo (wine flavoured macaroons)

Bars and Cafes

Vincafé, Via Vittorio Emanuele 12, my long standing favourite cafè in Alba. They serve great food all day long and generally always have outdoor seating that offers a great spot for people watching.

“Casa del Caffè”, Via Macrino 1, a large roasting machine is in front as are sacks of beans for show. But you purchase from plastic containers that preserve the aroma of the beans. 

Dining

“Enoclub”, Piazza Savona 4, contact: 0173 220 629. Closed Monday and Sunday evening. Very good food. Restaurant located in the lower ground floor of a but the room is nice/charming (but no windows). Good service and wine list.

La Libera, Via E. Pertinance 24, contact 0173293 155. Closed Monday and Sunday. A more contemporary setting with glass and chrome tables that serves classic Langhe cuisine.

Osteria Dell’Arco, Piazza Savona 5, contact 0173 228 028. Closed Monday and Sunday. Tradtional setting with good traditional good. The rabbit cooked in Arneis is always very good.

La Piola, Piazza Risorgimento 4, contact 0173 442 800. This restaurant is unique in that it has only a choice of one “primo” and “second” each day but also always serves a choice of pasta and a choice of antipasti. It also shares a kitchen with the Ceretto family’s 1 star restaurant, Piazza Duomo, and so it has been my experience that the secondo is of a higher quality than one might expect for this level of dining. Both are owned by the Ceretto family, so all the wines are Ceretto (the white arneis Blangè being one of my favourite white wines). There is glass extension in front of the restaurant to eat at or else in the restaurant itself (which I always prefer for some reason).

“Ristorante La Capannina”, Borgo Moretta, Strada Profonda 21, this restaurant claims to have invented sliced carne cruda, the raw veal antipasto that is so popular in the Langhe.

“Vineria dell’Umberto”, Piazza Savona 4, closed Monday and August, this is a welcoming place for good food and excellent wine, the main reason to come here is to sample wines from a list that contains 200 selections.

A walk down Via Vittorio Emanuele, one of the main thoroughfares of Alba, contains many shops and stores that merit your attention:

• Cignetti, 5
• Pasta Fresca Corino, 9A
• Pasticceria Beretta, 16A
• Polleria Ratti, 18B
• Pasticceria Petitti, 25
• Ponzio Tartufi, 26
• Aldo Martino, 27

The schedule for Vinum 2010 was released last month. This wine event is sponsored by various entities such as the Regione Piemonte, the City of Alba and the Province of Cuneo and focuses mainly on regional wines, such as Barbera d’Alba, Dolcetto, Barolo, Barbaresco but also Moscato. This year the event will takes places over the following three weekends: April 16^th-18^th, April 23^th-25^th and April 30^th- May 2^nd and all events take place in Alba, therefore just a short car ride from TorreBarolo.

New this year is the decision not to have tastings in the streets and piazza’s of Alba, rather the event will take place in three venues located in the historic center of Alba. The organizers believe the venues will enhance the visitors experience while still having the accessibility to the stores and restaurants of Alba’s historic center.

Palavinum 1: Inside the Palazzo Mostre e Congressi  G Morra located in piazza Medford will host “Grande Enoteca di Langhe e Roero”.  In this venue you will be able to taste and purchase a wide offering of regional wines.

Palavinum 2: Located in the Cortile della Maddalena, this venue will host “Appuntamenti Golosi”. This venue is dedicated to the coupling of wine and gastronomy and there will be regional producers with various salumis, cheese and sweets.

Palavinum 3: This venue will be reserved for “Grande Vini del Piemonte” and will be overseen by the Italian Sommelier Association. One can expect the best wines in this venue and they will host a retrospective for Barolo and Barbaresco wines from 1999 and 1997 as well as a focus on Barbaresco di Neive , Il “Piemonte Perlage” and some grand crus of Roero.  This venue will also highlight young and promising piemontese winemakers.

There are 3 other events that are running concurrent with Vinum.

One is the “Festival della Cucina” which consists of Michelin starred chefs from outside the Langhe being matched with Michelin starred regional chefs to create a special dinner at a small selection of some of the Langhe’s most prestigious restaurants. (Expect to pay €80-100 per person for one of these special tasting menus).

The “Paesaggi e Architetture del Vino” is being held in the Teatro Sociale and is an event focused on the scenery and architecture of wine.  There will also be a photography show dedicated to this same topic that will take place at the San Domenico church.

Lastly, there is a “Jazz di Vino” which will host concerts by the following artists:  Stefano Bollani, Elena Ledda e Rita Marcotulli, Furio Nicastri, Dado Moroni e Marco Tamburini.

Although the Vinum site is only in Italian, there is a detailed schedule of all the events that are hosted at the 3 venues.

Having participated last year, I think the decision to centralize the events in 3 venues with very specific purposes will enhance the ease and pleasure of the event. We have already booked our next trip so we’ll be there 24^th and 25^th April, would be great to meet some of you guys for a glass of Vinum … Cin cin!

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!!!

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.

A shortlist of some the most important Italian wines events for the coming months, recommended by TorreBarolo:

As already mentioned in a previous post back in October last year,  tomorrow SlowFood will introduce its own eagerly awaited Italian Wine Guide 2010, that will have less focus on awarding stars and a greater focus on informing consumers of the land, the people, the history and the climate that contribute to the vintage.

On January 30^th and 31^st in Verona the Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella will present the Amarone della Valpolicella Millesimo 2006.

From February 14 to 18 Nobile di Montepulciano Millesimo 2007 gets its turn at an event in Montepulciano dedicated to the public and sector professionals organized by the Consorzio del Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.

The tradition will continue in Florence, which will host the annual “Chianti Classico Collection” on February 16 and 17. Tastings will be offered of Gallo Nero vintages 2009, 2008 and 2007 reserve organized by Chianti Classico Collection.

On February 19 and 20 Montalcino will host “Benvenuto Brunello”, which will present the 2005 reserve organized by Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino.

From March 4 to 7, Sciacca will be hosting “Sicilia en Primeur”, during which the rating for Sicily’s 2009 vintage will be announced.

From 20 July 2010 to 15 May 2011 the international exhibition Vinum Nostrum, in Florence at the Museo degli Argenti – Palazzo Pitti. Original artefacts, sculptures, frescoes, and mosaics as well as videos and other multimedia devices will tell the story of wine and the vineyards it comes from. There will even be a reconstruction of a wine cellar from ancient Pompeii, created following literary descriptions. From Mesopotamia to modern-day Italy, from the rituals of communion to the celebration of plain drunkenness, wine and the vineyards. Info at Firenze 2010 – Un Anno d’Arte.