TorreBarolo Blog

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.

Castelmagno is a cheese which has been made for centuries. The earliest known mention of it dates back to 1277. In our lifetime, it wasn’t until the 1980s that the cheese re-emerged in popularity culminating in 1996 with a DOP (Denomination of Protected Origin) which restricts the production to three communes of the Upper Valle Grana, the south west of the Province of Cuneo. These communes are Castelmagno, Monterosso Grana and Pradleves, where there are only 12 producers that make about 6,000-7,000 wheels annually.

In 2002, the jury of the World Championship Cheese Contest that took place at Madison, Wisconsin, named it the #1 cheese among the category “Open Class Hard Cheeses”.

Castelmagno is a semi-hard, half-fat cheese produced from whole cows milk, obtained from cattle of the Piedmontese breed fed on fresh forage or hay from mixed meadows or pasture. On occasion some milk from sheep or goats may be added to the cows’ milk.

The taste is often described as similar to that of a young, semi-hard Parmesan with a similar texture, though flakier in consistency and can sometimes be crumbly. It has a tart, mild nutty taste and is a good cheese to use for grating or adding small pieces to appetizers as a topping.

My personal experience with this unique and delicious cheese is when I used it for the mantecatura in my Barolo risotto. This suggestion I got from Giorgio Locatelli (though not personally!) as normally Parmesan is used in making risotto. I think it is the combination of the robust, earthly flavor of the Barolo wine combined with this cheese from the same area that makes for a wonderful taste sensation. The cheese is also great eaten with just a drizzle of honey and some fortified wine.

It is a hard to find Castelmagno outside of Italy, more specifically Piemonte, but if you have a cheese specialty shop, ask them if they can get you some. And if you stay with us at TorreBarolo you can try it in any restaurant nearby. You won’t be disappointed with its unique flavor. A great selection of Castelmagno’s pictures and recipes can be found on our Fan Page on Facebook.

How? If you aren’t already a Fan of TorreBarolo on Facebook, simply become one by the end of January and you automatically will qualify for the drawing. If you are a Fan of TorreBarolo already, then easy, just continue to support the TorreBarolo Fan’s Page with your comments.

The rules:
1. As of January 31st, all names on the Fan page will be entered into a hat and we will draw a name. If the lucky winner is unable to redeem their prize, then we will draw a 2nd winner … and so on;
2. The prize of 3 nights at TorreBarolo has a value of €375 and is not redeemable in cash. As is standard at TorreBarolo, a security deposit will still be requested upon check-in;
3. The availability period for the winner’s 3 night stay runs from Feb 5th, 2010 to March 31st, 2010;
4. If the winner removes him/herself from the TorreBarolo Fan’s page before their 3 night stay, the winner forfeits their winning;
5. After staying at TorreBarolo, the winner will be requested to enter a review on the TorreBarolo website as well as on TorreBarolo Fan’s page;
6. The winner will be contacted via Facebook directly to their message inbox;
7. The final winner will be announced on the Fan’s page on Feb 1st.

Given the 79th International White Truffle fair in Alba is currently in full swing, I wanted to provide a bit more background on this delicious and mysterious fungus.

Alba is famous for white truffles and although these special fungus grow in various parts of the world (e.g., Albania, Romania, ex-Yugoslavia), it is the Alba white truffle that is considered the ultimate and that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors a year for the annual truffle fair, that will culminate in the 11th White Truffle World Auction at the Grinzane Cavour Castle on November 8th.

White truffles (tuber magnatum pico) are a wild fungus and for them to grow, the soil must consist of special properties. Also critical is that this special fungus needs trees because the truffles only grow by absorbing the water, salt minerals and fibers from the soil through the roots of the trees. Even more interesting is that the tree the truffle grows close to influences the flavour of the truffle. For example, if the truffle is growing close to an oak tree, the truffle smell will be more intense than if it grows next to a poplar tree.

Fresh truffles lose their intensity of scent and flavour quite quickly so they aren’t good for oil to be kept for months. After a few days, fresh truffle oil will loose its flavour, therefore, if you see truffle oil in shops be aware that it likely contains a chemical flavouring.

Black truffles (see photo to the right) in my opinion lack the intensity of flavour and smell of the white ones. The winter (November to March) ones tend to be the best quality and they are not as highly expensive as the white ones.

Given the going price this year is €250/100 grams, it may be intimidating shopping for a truffle. Be aware that you area allowed to take off a little skin and look at the inside of the truffle. The inside should be light to dark brown. If it is any shade of white, the truffle isn’t mature. If you do buy a truffle and it has not already been cleaned for you, they immerse it in a bowl with equal parts white wine vinegar and water. Very gently brush the outside of the truffle with a brush you might use to clean mushrooms and then pat it dry.

A truffle hunt is very exciting but can be very depressing too when you spend five hours looking, and you find nothing (personal experience!).

Because its flavour is so intense, traditionally truffle is used very simply – shaved over risotto, pasta or often eggs or a carpaccio of veal or beef – so no other flavour can try to compete with it. In the Langhe, expect to pay about €60 for a bowl of the local pasta, tajarin with a generous shaving of white truffles.

Bon Appetite!