TorreBarolo Blog

………..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.

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.

Last night I saw the musical film Nine, directed by Rob Marshall who is best known for his film adaptation of the stage musical Chicago. The trailer of the movie is very intoxicating as it is filled with chic beautiful people in iconic Italian scenery set to a catchy musical number titled “Be Italian”.  For this reason I wanted to see the movie, although the reviews haven’t all been stellar.

My brother is our family movie critic and he said it was “entertaining”, which was enough to be able to convince my Italian boyfriend to accompany me. This post isn’t to review the film itself but more to reflect on what the film captures so well, which is the era when Cinecittà (Cinema City) was at its peak.  It was a time in the late 50s and 60s that you had world famous Italian and international directors making glamorous and historic movies at this 99 acre Roman movie studio. The chic, elegance of the Italian society was both a beautiful backdrop to these movies but also these glam images were exported to the rest of the world via glossy magazines reporting on the on-goings of the stars living and working in the Italian capital. Some might say that this era was Italy at its best and it was a delight to indulge in watching a movie that captured this Campari-drinking, Alfa-Romeo spider driving period so well. In the movie there are 2 particularly catchy tunes. One is titled “Cinema Italiano”, which is sung by Kate Hudson.

The song is about the director but has a few verses that reflect the images of this era. For example, “I love the dark and handsome guys with their skinny little ties dressing mod and looking out of site. I love to watch them as the cruise with their pointy leather shoes, wearing shades in the middle of the night”. The song I like the most was the title song, “Be Italian”, which is sung by Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas. She does an excellent performance playing a grittier, more sexual Italian woman and in her performance was mesmerizing portraying this essence of Italian. Enjoy the clip and I’d love to hear your views of the movie.

Ciao! Welcome to my Blog.

I love the Langhe Valley and wanted to create a means to communicate my excitement about the many things that make up this little jewel tucked away in the Northwest of Italy.

You might wonder how an American, originally from California, came to become a Langhe enthusiast. I credit my dad, Harvey, with exposing me to the area. My dad loved food and he was convinced he was Italian in his previous life. Luckily for me, this resulted in lots of trips to mainly Tuscany and Liguria to eat and visit the Italian friends he collected over the years. Of the three children in our family, I most certainly was the one that embraced his passion for food, so we made a good du0.

What I remember most about my first visit to the Langhe Valley in the winter of 1998 was how different the food was from Tuscany and Liguria. The Langhe dishes were lighter and pasta seemed to melt in my mouth. It was exciting to experience a new Italian regional cooking that was more refined, simpler and distinctive than what I knew to be Italian cooking.

The exclusive use of locally sourced produce and livestock ensure a consistent menu of local delicacies at the highest standard……..and that is just the food. For all you wine lovers, you will already know that during the late 90’s, the wine makers in the region were producing some outstanding vintages to accompany the earthly flavours of the regional cooking.

That trip in 1998 was one of four that I shared with my dad before he died in 2000. The summer after his death, as a family we travelled to his favourite places in Europe, including the Langhe, to scatter a portion of his ashes. Since that summer, each year I returned to the Langhe and I was overwhelmed by a sense of “being home”.

In 2005 I bought TorreBarolo, a17^th century tower in the center of Barolo. No matter how many times I stay there, no matter what the season, I am always overwhelmed by the natural beauty on the Langhe. This combined with my love of the regional cooking and wine has turned me into a qualified Langhe nut, such that a blog on all the wonderful events, food, wines, attractions in the Langhe and beyond just made sense. I hope you find the information useful in planning your stay.

Megan