Wednesday 8 November

After our excellent truffle lunch in Vaglio Serra, Marco, the MD of the Vinchio Vaglio cooperative kindly drove us to I Castelli in Alba. We arrived at precisely 14.15, as our friends Joanna, Rob, Sue, Ian, Jason and Jess fell out of local Zuppa where they’d lunched after their very early flight from Gatwick to Turin. Rob’s and Jason’s hire cars (Jason’s is electric) were tucked up in the hotel’s underground garage.

 As we unpacked and showered, our friends snatched a brief rest before we all launched out on our first visit to Elvio Cogno of Ravera in Novello, to be greeted by Sarah; Walter being in London and Nadia in busy with little grandson Michele, the two year old son of Elena, for whom their single vineyard is named. 

The weather was sunny, bright and clear, and the views to north and south were spectacular. The wines were delightful, as ever, and Sarah was knowledgeable and friendly.  A great start to the trip! 

David had really struggled to find ristoranti which could or would accommodate eight people, but this evening Chiara and Mirko made us welcome at Il Trittico where we had a delightful meal.

Thursday 9 November 

David and I shot out to see if Maggiore car hire could deliver our vehicle in double quick time early on Saturday morning – we’d spotted that it would have to be rapid for us to be on time for Giacomo at Aldo Conterno, at 09.00. The young man was very responsive and invited us to collect it at 07.45 on Saturday. So far, so good. They operate from the quiet shopping mall right next to the hotel. Couldn’t be easier… 

We left I Castelli a little late after David’s briefing, and made our way in the two gender-defined cars : Joanna drove the ‘girls’ in the Jeep with Sue navigating, and Jason swept up the ‘boys’ (Joanna’s descriptors!) in the all-electric Volvo. Two google errors made us late, and the teasing lasted all day. 

Scarpa in Nizza was as we remembered it. Enrico showed us around; Silvio the present wine maker popped in to say hello (above, left) as did Davide, the MD, and finally 82 year old Carlo Pesche (above, right) appeared at the tasting (he has an apartment in the winery, and having joined the company in 1962 he is the repository – the ‘bible’ of their tradition) and egged Enrico on to serve the 2014 which was the star of the line up.

We drove on to La Casa Crippa, where Gianmario Cerutti joined us to eat in his wife’s family’s ristorante, and slowly overcame his shyness to speak in perfectly clear English to Rob, Sue and Jason, David having risked moving people round half way through the meal. 

Of course, we ran late; arriving in the rain and mist at Azienda Agricola 499 at least 40 minutes late to be treated to fantastic views of mist-clad steep slopes and a rapid tasting by Mario Andrion, before he shot off to his day job at Castello di Verduno to meet Antonio Gallioni, the italian american wine critic.

Roberto Garbarino, Alta Langa producer, was our last appointment, and we were very late. He gradually warmed up and filled us in on the consorzio challenges as well as the recent short history of these traditionally made sparkling wines, which were delicious, if tremendously hard work !

Back to Alba in the rain to a range of eateries: La Moderna for us and Sue; the Japanese Hasu for Jason and Jess, De Gustibus for Joanna and Rob, while Ian ate in the hotel to catch up with some work.

Friday 10 November

Today was Roero and Barbaresco day. After a quick briefing we headed north for Monchiero Carbone in Canale where Lucrezia greeted us very warmly, apologised for Francesco’s absence (a lift had failed somewhere) and showed us round the working parts of their beautiful cascina.

I had warned people that the cantina (whose cubic capacity was at least as large – and deep – as the cascina itself) lurked below the courtyard, but it still came as a big surprise when we moved from the old traditional space to the enormous new cantina, excavated in 2010 ish, into which the harvest is dropped through a huge steel hatch into the inox fermentation tanks below. 

These photos above were taken at an earlier visit – but they give an idea of how stunning the newish re-worked hayloft is, now the permanently air-conditioned ageing cellar. As we were leaving Francesco arrived, and gave David the dates of the book-related event postponed until late January, to take place just before Grandi Langhe in Turino. 

We drove to Barbaresco village, simply to get a sense of this special place for a few minutes (parking was impossible) before driving on to La Visione, the ristorante better known as Nicolini, to attempt a one-course pranzo veloce. The veloce bit was a really bad idea! We had the dining room to ourselves – a conference buffet was happening alongside – and the food and service was delightful. We will go again! 

We hurtled on to Sottomano in Neive where Ian tried his drone out…

and we clearly annoyed the sister in law of our hostess Claudia, who bustled in and out of the tasting room, sighing deeply and sucking her teeth. Claudia remained unconcerned.

Their wines were judged overly tannic by Rob who was maintaining a running commentary on his ratings. 

The weather had gradually improved, which made it all the more urgent to drive to La Morra before sunset.  We made it, though parking was tricky. The Belvedere was exactly that: stunning views across the Langhe from Verduno and Roddi, Diano d’Alba, over Castiglione Faletto and onto Serra Lunga. Barolo itself was in the valley hollow below; the hills preceding Monforte blocked it from our sight but even Novello was silhouetted on the southern skyline. It was breath-taking.

Next stop: : a very sickly hot chocolate (con panna) for everybody – it had suddenly turned cold as the sun went down – after which we stepped off the main street and into Rocche Costamagna where our host, after a short delay, showed us the very long family wine-making history and provided a tasting in a room alongside the balcony with almost as good a view; slightly north-east, and including Alba. 

Joanna had organised a table at De Gustibus for eight; Sue ducked out, and Jason joined us later. The food is pretty good, given it is pre-prepared in their tiny space. The wines are also an increasingly impressive collection. A long, tiring but very stimulating day. 

Saturday 11 November 

We had a hasty breakfast, and made a dash for Maggiore where our young friend was as good as his word, with our paperwork ready. The car itself, smaller than planned – a normal Fiat 500 – was parked in the huge free carpark in front of the hotel; covered in ice as if put through a car wash just as the temperatures plummeted last night. No matter; we only need it on Sunday. 

We left at 08.30 to reach Aldo Conterno for 09.00; he has taxiing duties in Milan for his son so time was precious. As two years ago, he treated us to an elegant and utterly engaging iteration of their ‘philosophy’ (by which they mean their mission statement). They offer their best; others may judge whether or not it is THE best; they offer ‘value’-  by which I think he means high quality – and this matters to them much more than ephemeral fame. His idiom, clearly full of italian figures of speech translated into very elegant english, was spell-binding. All the women were enchanted by his rhetoric – as much its sophisticated communication than its content. 

The men were equally astonished by the fierce selection process (in some cases using only 20% of a vineyard’s potential) and its corollary : the larger part sold as table wine to others. No wonder his stuff commands very high prices, and their customers ‘invest’ rather than simply buy.

We resisted the temptation to ask how a third generation would be successfully incorporated into the business; after all brothers Aldo and Giacomo had split the company only one generation earlier… This Giacomo has three sons; we wondered how many cousins there are! Time will perhaps tell.

Our 11.00 visit to Vite Colte was disappointing. Cristina had texted to say she wouldn’t be there, and a colleague would look after us. The colleague was terribly nervous and not very fluent, and so uncomfortable we were squirming. She disappeared after showing us round, leaving us to our own devices in the tasting room. The shop was very busy; it makes an unthreatening destination for people enjoying their wines on the clearest and warmest of sunny autumnal days.   We had a brief tour, but our friends didn’t get to see the remarkable grass roof…

It did mean we reached Giovanni Rosso in Serra Lunga on time, where we were greeted very warmly by Daniele, their export manager who had ridden with Ian to Epernay on a sponsored event to raise money to combat Motor Neuron disease, which is seriously affecting a fellow employee at Berry Bros. 

The sponsored ride achieved £330,000!! 

I have mixed feelings about this winery, and once again felt uncomfortable, this time in relation to the art work in the public spaces, as well as overworked prints of Marilyn Monroe. (That poor lost soul killed herself ! Her sad life doesn’t do anything for women but depress! Only a man would put a poster in the women’s loo!)

The naked reclining woman (with breasts so close to her chin you’d think she’d got mumps, with a polite (ie minimal) amount of pubic hair as a focus for attention) did have one redeeming feature: underarm hair…. Yes, despite popular belief, women do have some.

As Sue said, people never dream of displaying naked young men in such cliché, submissive poses. Tedious and disappointing; some of us attempted to ignore it  – but it tells its own rather grubby story. There were plenty of fat ladies too, reminiscent of bawdy sea-side post cards. 

I got some sense out of Daniele of the pastiche of the madonna in the cantina (see below). The infant, he said, is Ester, and some of the other faces bear family resemblance. (Might one of the putti be Davide, I wonder? And are we to think therefore that the elder Esterina is the Madonna – Nostra Signora della Vigna Rionda ? Ah well, at least baby Ester had her legs firmly crossed). I do wonder which world view lies behind it….

It continues to strike me as a very strange piece; curiously self-referential and – well – creepy.

However, Daniele had organised a local young chef to provide lunch, and we were treated royally. We left as the glorious light faded, and the group turned down David’s suggestion of a quick stop at L’Astemia Pentita as we left, everyone feeling the weight of so much delicious food and so many marvellous wines.   

The group reconvened at 19.45 to walk to Il Museo for our final meal together: a set four course meal. This ristorante is below ground with the most fantastic brick ceilings and arches, remnants of Roman Alba. Their food was excellent (where isn’t?) and the wine list kept the men busy.

The next morning David and I bade Sue, Jess, Joanna, Jason, Ian and Rob farewell as they left at 08.15 to drive to Turin for the BA flight to Gatwick; all were home safely in time for tea – and work the next day!