Sunday 12 November 

Sue, Jess, Joanna, Jason, Ian and Rob left at 08.15 to drive to Turin; we bade them farewell, and after our own breakfast, packed, checked out, picked up the car and headed to the supermarket close by to purchase vinegar (yes – again – see Sardinia) and various vegetables, tea bags and cheese for use in the Bricco Rocche apartment which Federico Ceretto had very kindly made available to us once more. He greeted us later in the morning, having first taken the children to church; Manuele was unwell. He was delighted with his copy of the book, and the raspberry jam, and left us to our own devices.

The day was delightful if not quite as beautiful as yesterday, and cooler, but we walked to the local bar in Castiglione Falletto to sit on the full balcony (with obligatory and if in the shade, as we were, necessary blankets) for lunch of parmigiano (NOT a hot parmigiana) and celery and toma salad.

After lunch we walked a few kilometres down down down through the Scarrone vineyard into the steep valley that separates the Castiglione Falletto and Serra Lunga langhe (lit. tongues, or ridges) and a little way towards Perno, pleased that the truffle hunting last week meant we had proper footwear with us.

The climb back warmed us up, and we returned to the apartment to hear that are friends were safely home. We ate another excellent supper at Le Torri in the village; a short walk on a beautiful night. 

Monday 13 November 

Today David’s research to support the vintages work began in earnest with a 09.00 visit to Paola at Sordo where their winemaker Gian Luca Colombo also joined us. (He tells us that his sheep are performing well, and that yes, they are now efficiently fenced). We drove down the narrow road alongside the Monprivato vineyard, stopping to capture the grubbing up of less important vines.

Paola was warm and generous in her response to David’s request to try whichever old vintages she has, and Gian Luca equally keen to provide information. It was a great start! 

We shot along the via Alba for a coffee at a very work-manlike bar which was just beginning to serve Pranzo al lavoro and sat outside in a sunny spot watching the parking become very tight…

David had tried to contact Denise at Marrone, but in her absence booked on line for lunch. By the time we arrived the whole team had been put on red alert and we were greeted very warmly and given a fine window view, and an excellent lunch.

Unfortunately we had to abandon lunch just before dolci in order to reach our next appointment with Giuseppe at Vajra at 15.00. He led us through a very poised account of his father and mother’s fortunes beginning with Aldo’s leaving Turino to reclaim and reactivate the family’s land in Annunciata. His mother briefly appeared looking very smart to ask him to find a ‘few minutes for Mama’ before he disappeared again. Guiseppe invited a charming American honeymoon couple to join us for the last flight.

Was this the evening that we searched Barolo in vain for a bar that was open after six? Instead we returned to Bricco Rocche for a picnic supper, eating the vegetables, cheese, fruit and avocado we had bought yesterday. 

Tuesday 14 November 

After a lie in we set off for Ceretto HQ near Alba for a 10.30 appointment with Federico’s cousin, Alessandro, the enologist of the family. Here there is another state of the art viewing ‘bubble’ facing south west, overlooking the glorious landscape, aimed undoubtedly at their many visitors.

Getting into the fortress that is the ancient and huge cantina was hard-going; in our experience Italian signage is either overdone or underdone. The large white mansion faces south overlooking the langhe and literally fronts the Ceretto success story: two brothers, Alba based; followed by four next generation, now middle-aged cousins all with a distinct role in this multi-faceted business. 

The tasting itself was another excellent response to David’s request for access to older vintages, though Alessandro seemed keen to shed any assumptions that there is one correct or classic method of wine-making. He used to conform, he told us, but now takes what comes each season, and works from there. Despite being close in age and appearance, the two cousins do seem very different. Alessandro couldn’t now contemplate any involvement in promotion or marketing; Federico seems to relish both.

In pursuit of local food, we stumbled on Alba’s Sports Centre, and a small self service ristorante where we were politely instructed in the use of the obligatory if paper tovaglie for our trays, before being served vegetable soup and sundry other food, for a princely €10 each. We ate overlooking the earnest swimmers and exercisers in the pool below. 

We returned to Bricco Rocche for a quiet afternoon, David chasing Sarah and Valentina for meetings, Burzi, and Daria at Julia Negri for last minute appointments in the few gaps in the programme that remain, and of course ristoranti – notably La Visione again, and Armonia in Alba, while I tried to keep up this record…

We met Valentina in De Gustibus in Alba at 19.00 after she had spent an hour or so with Niccoletta Bocca of San Fereolo who is now leading the Dolcetto Dogliani consorzio, and needing help. She seemed well, though her mother’s death earlier this year and her father’s heart condition of course weigh heavily. It was lovely to see her.

Wednesday 15 November

We woke to see the extraordinary fog stretching like a cotton wool carpet from La Morra to SerraLunga with the alps peeping over the northern edge. It was mesmerising to see it slowly move to expose a glimpse of Castiglione’s tower, only for it to become submerged once again, imperceptively.

The drive to Rinaldi Francesco to meet Paola was through the northern part of Bussia and the nebbia swirled impressively as we dropped height. After a bit of a struggle to establish exactly where we should be, a phone call to the office (in Alba) prompted Paola to come up from the cellars to meet us.

Fabulous views as the nebbia cleared of Brunate vineyards on the slopes up to La Morra across the very busy and fast main road, right up to Ceretto’s decorated art gallery, formerly the chapel of the Brunate borgo, close by the cascina. 

We moved on to Alba in a vain search for a vegetarian ristorante, but luckily we came across ristorante Serenella in the south east of the town in which we had a delicious seafood antipasto, full of fresh prawns, calamari and crustaceans. Thence to the nearby Ampelion campus at the Alba wine school to meet professor Simone Giacosa at 14.00 from whom David had received several technical academic articles in the past.

He is much admired – Daria (see Saturday 18 November) was full of praise for his academic help. We met one of his doctoral students working on tannins in relation to maceration times and were shown the labs. They work in collaboration with several other universities around Italy on wine research.

We arrived at Borgogno in Barolo at 16.00 to be greeted warmly by Maria (despite our having mistaken the appointment time) to be shown this vast cantina and to hear its long history before embarking on a seriously long and generous tasting of its back catalogue. She was extremely kind, having already helped us by introducing David to Fontanafredda where she had previously worked, and patiently waited for us to taste, only parting as their enoteca was closing.

Barolo was again empty and silent as we left; so strange, given how much of a magnet it is in daylight!
En route we had searched Brezza’s menu only to discover that Bagna Cauda is no longer on offer. Given David’s new emphasis on vegetables, this was a serious blow; we were to learn that it has completely dropped out of fashion owing to concern over ‘the smell’ as Nadine at Fontafredda explained later. 

Federico and Manuele, Sophie and Tommaso were expecting us for a family summer. Federico had armed himself with a truffle which was energetically grated onto our zucca soup, followed by delicious chicken (purchased in Bra from a butcher who raises chickens) and a very moist panettone’ all accompanied by two 2016s, one was Cerreto; the other Damilano with new oak. 

The children were shy, and reluctant to please their parents by speaking english, though Tomasso fell for a simple football question from David and a modest conversation ensued. Federico was incredibly warm, inviting us to think of the apartment as our italian home! A kind and very socievole person!

Thursday 16 November 

Barbaresco today! We had an appointment at 10.00, and found parking on the quiet street just beyond the main street, shown below. Barbaresco looked charming; views of the drop down to the Tanaro behind the houses; the Gaia garden, and the Tannaro valley.

Our appointment was with Giovanni Gaia; we were admitted and greeted by Giulia, a friend of Valentina. After a brief wait we were shown into one of the decorated first floor rooms where Giovanni had assembled a fine selection of back vintages. David also quizzed him on the 2023 season, gathering information on this year’s weather, and the vineyard as well as cantina management. 

By 12.15 as we were leaving Giovanni recommended the Trattoria Antica Torre, so we made our way to its gate where people were assembling, boldly opening the door just as the madrone was checking in bookings. We were lucky on several fronts: to our surprise Aldo Vacca was helping seat guests and he indicated a free table, next to Dave Hunter and partner who David recognised by his Australian accent, and nearby the youngish owner of another Barbaresco winery with whom I had exchanged friendly looks and gestures outside while she parked. The food was good though the service slow, and when Aldo left, he came over to tell us not to hurry to our next appointment, which of course was with him at Prodettori!

Despite Aldo having emailed to say they had very few old vintages he produced a fabulous tasting  and equally interesting reflections on the various vintages he had lived through. I reminded him of his story about his uncle, and later himself, having to run to keep up with the respective Gaias on their promotional trips to the states; we agreed that Giovanni hadn’t inherited those genes! 

As the evening light began to fade, we walked up to the Antica Torre where the route was furnished with a host of fabulous photos of local wine producers, some of whom are shown below. Angelo Gaia’s warm smile is immediately recognisable; the three sisters, now together running the winery after the relatively recent deaths of their father Angelo, and grandfather, Albino Rocca; Marco Piacentino of Socré, an architect by training (and responsible for oversight of the recent restoration of the old tower); and finally the four cousins of Ceretto : Alessandro, Lisa, Roberta and Federico (l to r)

On the way home we called into La Visione to check an email booking David had made; just as well – Saturday lunch was full so instead we booked for our final Langhe night – Sunday. We then headed into Alba to test the apartment check-in arrangements for the next day, which was already very busy. The small streets made parking impossible, so we defaulted to the spaces opposite I Castelli, crawling through the homeward-bound traffic of which Alba has masses. We tracked down the little traditional café Teatro near San Domenico (sadly ‘improved’ and expanded) for a restorative cioccolata con panna

and then settled for a simpler supper in a small and very quiet ristorante Momenti on the via Mazzini, almost empty, with a helpful and informed waitress, who reassured us the weekends were very different, before we returned to Bricco Rocche for the last time. 

Friday 17 November

Federico came at 09.00 to say farewell, warm and encouraging as ever, and we packed up and left for Fontanafredda only 10 minutes away. Here we were treated to a guided tour of the wine-related premises by a young woman who turned out to be working in exports for the whole group. Its history dominates. Originally a hunting lodge for the first king of the united Italy in 1860, the estate is huge with streets, a working men’s club, vast cellars with huge old botti many of which are still in use, and ancient tunnels still used for moving barrels between cellars, and containing the original spring from which Fontanafredda takes its name (not a pretty sight! Below, centre of second row)

Our hostess was due in Milan to give an afternoon seminar to Swiss MBA students, so Nadine took over at lunch, which we ate with the wine maker, after the tasting. Another fabulous sharing of vintages and knowledge! 

David had successfully attracted the attention of Burzi for a last minute visit this afternoon. It was yet another glorious day, and the slightly cooler weather was gradually impacting on the vine leaves and the pockets of woodland.

Caterina met us and showed us their newish and of course small premises, while telling us that she had never planned to be part of the wine industry, but after a languages education had joined her older brother Alberto in his new project, to her and her parents’ surprise, and is now completely gripped by it. 

From here we hurried into Alba, though the Friday tea time traffic was building, to drop our luggage at the curious apartment whose remote check-in video we had assiduously studied (In fact the two outer doors were unlocked, and the keys were in an unsecured key safe), then on to our evening appointment, to be followed by a weekend in Alba, and a final day in Turino.