David’s press trips to Valdobbiadene (for superior Prosecco) and five days later, to the Euganean Hills (for more obscure wines, salumi and olive oil production and spas) provided us with an unprecedented opportunity to spend a long weekend in Venice. A holiday! Yes a real holiday ! I flew from Gatwick at midday on Thursday … Continue reading And what will October 2022 bring, I wonder? Venice!

Monday 12 September  We made an earlyish start (we saw the sunrise from our bedroom window) to drive east from Alba to our first visit Ca Turin in Cisterna d’Asti at 09.00 where Alessandro met us promptly and showed us his modest cantina with four small concrete tanks (and several bags of hazel nuts). Fabulous … Continue reading Piemonte 13: Monferrato September 2022

Saturday 10 September  Today we drove west, returning to the foothills of the French Alps to expand David’s material gathered in May. At Costiglione Saluzzo we met Serena Giardanino and her father in their small domestic sized winery around which they grow Qualiano as well as Barbera, Nebbiolo, Chardonnay and Favorita, used in six different … Continue reading Piemonte 12: Saluzzo (again) and Diano d’Alba and the Langhe’s eastern edge; September 2022

Friday 2 September 2022 After a busy week of birthday celebrations, it was a relief to be catching a mid-afternoon BA flight from Gatwick, accessed easily by trains (running almost to time!). Wonderful when it works!  But a late departure meant a later arrival at Turin, and though Hertz’s rep was both friendly and helpful we … Continue reading Piemonte 11: the Langhe 3; September 2022

After a very hot and dry July with not one but two record-breaking heatwaves, the garden had gone from flourishing colours to rock-hard ground and shrivelled plants with yellowing foliage. Souther Water inevitably imposed a hosepipe ban, though ours were put to use siphoning water from the bath onto suffering flowerbeds and roses. Look carefully … Continue reading And what will August 2022 bring I wonder? – drought and a significant birthday!