Piedmont region? (Italy)

[NW-Bound]

On this upcoming trip, I will pay a bit more attention to where we will have dinner.

Michelin Guide has a good list of recommended restaurants for each locale, with a classification of the cuisine, such as traditional, regional, or modern. These are not Michelin starred mind you, only recommended. Prices are reasonable. When I check against Google reviews and ratings, there seems to be a good agreement.

I just looked at one restaurant right now with a 5-course menu, plus 5 glasses of pairing wines. And also a 7-course menu, and 7 glasses of wines. Aye, aye, aye...

How can one eat and drink so much? Not I, no matter how tempting it is.

 

[explanade]

Small portions probably.

 

[Bamaman]

On this upcoming trip, I will pay a bit more attention to where we will have dinner.

Michelin Guide has a good list of recommended restaurants for each locale, with a classification of the cuisine, such as traditional, regional, or modern. These are not Michelin starred mind you, only recommended. Prices are reasonable. When I check against Google reviews and ratings, there seems to be a good agreement.

I just looked at one restaurant right now with a 5-course menu, plus 5 glasses of pairing wines. And also a 7-course menu, and 7 glasses of wines. Aye, aye, aye...

How can one eat and drink so much? Not I, no matter how tempting it is.

I have witnessed Italian families out on a Saturday night eating and drinkiubg one of their 3 hour meals. They're not the largest people in Europe, and I wonder where they put all that food and wine. I'm a big guy, and I cannot begin to keep up with them when eating a full Italian meal.

 

[Gumby]

On this upcoming trip, I will pay a bit more attention to where we will have dinner.

Michelin Guide has a good list of recommended restaurants for each locale, with a classification of the cuisine, such as traditional, regional, or modern. These are not Michelin starred mind you, only recommended. Prices are reasonable. When I check against Google reviews and ratings, there seems to be a good agreement.

I just looked at one restaurant right now with a 5-course menu, plus 5 glasses of pairing wines. And also a 7-course menu, and 7 glasses of wines. Aye, aye, aye...

How can one eat and drink so much? Not I, no matter how tempting it is.

Our first night in Italy, we ate a very nice dinner at a small restaurant in Milan. As we had read was the standard protocol, we ordered antipasti, then primi, then secondi with contorni, ending with dolci - and plenty of wine. The food was exquisite, but I have never been so full in my life. Upon reflection, we noticed that none of the Italian customers ordered all those courses. So we never did it again in our subsequent trips to Italy.

 

[bltkmt]

Asti vs Alba for a few nights?

 

[bltkmt]

You can arrange a winery tour through the town tourist office. I arranged three winery tours myself; each one was different. Because we had 8 people on each tour, we paid about €60 each, and each time we also had lunch. The tours included a castle and/or old town visit in addition to the winery. There are wineries there that have been family owned for several centuries.

Do some wineries have restaurants? Or did you do lunch elsewhere? Any specific suggestions?

 

[explanade]

I don't know about Piedmont but in Tuscany there are all kinds of Chianti winery tours where they pick you up in Florence and drive you down.

I think some of them included lunch.

These are from 3rd-party tourist operators.

Looks like there are winery tours in Piedmont but none of them listed here seems to include lunch or an option to have lunch.

https://www.viator.com/Asti-tours/Wine-Tasting-and-Winery-Tours/d27173-g6-c21

Maybe check the tourism office websites for towns in Piedmont.

 

[NW-Bound]

Barolo was mentioned several times upthread, and I did remember to try it in my recent trip through the Piedmont region.

At a restaurant in Domodossola, I looked at the wine list, and saw that Barolo bottles commanded the highest prices. Despite the long wine list, they had only one bottle offered by the glass. Because my wife was not a drinker, I ordered one glass, and it was 10 euros. This was pricey in Italy, because usually a glass of wine was around 4 euros.

I had a good time that evening, so ordered a 2nd glass later. This time, the waiter said he would open a new bottle, and brought it out to show me. I asked to take a photo, saying I would look it up later. The waiter was more generous with the 2nd glass, and poured me significantly more than the 1st glass.

To tell the truth, I am not a oenophile and just want to drink something to say that I have sampled it. And I did not find this Barolo wine much better than other reds I have had. In fact, earlier I had bought a bottle of a forgotten varietal out of a supermarket to drink in my hotel room, and paid less than 10 euros for the bottle, and thought the two were comparable. Pearl before swine, probably.

I just now remember to research this bottle. This vintage has a good rating, and retails for $58 in the US. Given that a bottle yields about 6 glasses, the price I paid per glass was not at all bad.

 

[explanade]

Big supermarket chains in Europe buy wine in volume and put their label on it, hiding which winery they bought from.

I remember reading an annual review of wines in France and a few of these generic white label wines were among their top picks.

I certainly couldn't tell the difference between a $5 and a $50 bottle. Not so sure oenophiles can either.

 

[NW-Bound]

After paying 20 euros for 2 glasses of Barolo, which was not enough for me to learn about this wine, I got a whole bottle of Barolo from a supermarket the next day. I picked a bottle that came in a gift box, thinking that it had to be a fancy one.

When I opened it in the hotel room, scratched my head when I smelled the scent of five spices. Yes, the five spices as in Chinese food. What the heck?

I looked again at the box. Indeed, it said Barolo Chinato.

It's a dessert wine made with a base of Barolo wine. Not what I expected, but I am not a fussy drinker or eater, so I finished the bottle. But this means I had to find another bottle, and this I did.

The Barolo Chinato was made by the vintner FontanaFredda, which I learned was a big Barolo wine producer.

 

[NW-Bound]

I made sure the 2nd Barolo I bought was a traditional one. Barolo wines are more expensive than other grape varieties, and there are fewer bottles of them in supermarkets as well as in wine stores. I bought my 2nd Barolo in a wine shop in Cortina downtown.

Again, not a wine connoisseur, I did not find a reason to like this grape varietal more than the more common ones. I am sure there's a reason for it to be more expensive, but I am just not sophisticated enough to appreciate it.

 

[NW-Bound]

While we are talking about wine, I have another story.

While in Bolzano, which is in South Tyrol, east of Lombardy which in turn is east of Piedmont, I talked to a bar owner, and learned about a white grape varietal called Kerner. Never heard of it before, so of course I had to sample a glass.

I liked it enough to buy from him a bottle to drink on the trip.

Just now look on the Web. Total Wine has plenty of Barolo, but not of Kerner.

 

[explanade]

If you went south from South Tyrol to Verona, you'd pass by the Valpolicella region, another prized wine.

Then down in Tuscany, there is Chianti Classico and Brunello di Montalcino.

These are all known well enough to be imported to the US.

Lesser known wines may not be.

In Switzerland, they grow wine on the eastern end of Lake Geneva, with vines grown on terraced hillsides overlooking the lake. Very scenic.

But these are not grown in volume and very little is exported. That and being Switzerland, they are expensive. There may also not be too much demand overseas. Pretty vineyards but maybe the best wine.

There is also wine grown on the Ligurian coast, over Cinque Terre villages. Again scenic but it's not a high volume operation. They actually have monorail carts to harvest the grapes and transport them up and down pretty steep slopes. They called it heroic viticulture when people were climbing up and down those slopes to tend to the vines.

 

[NW-Bound]

I did spend 3 nights in Verona at an agriturismo a few miles from old town, but did not look for regional wines there.

And speaking of Verona, I think it is overrated due to the fantasy of Romeo and Juliet. Trento old town is classier and less crowded.

And Bergamo is also worthy of a visit.

 

[EastWest Gal]

From 2016-2019 I spent two weeks each May in Alba, in the heart of the Piedmont region. year I arranged a group outing including a winery tour. The first year I bought a full case of wine and had it shipped home. The winery was Cavollotto. The case, with shipping costs to the U.S., was $240 paid by credit card. It was a steal. When I spied a rare bottle in our PA wine stores about three years ago, it was $79. I bought it. If I recall, the nebbiolo grape varietal is fairly unique to the Langhe region.

Italy, like France, has government regulations regarding the labeling and classification of its wines. Look for DOC, or DOCG if you want the highest quality. There are many websites explaining this, as well as how to read an Italian wine label. Here is one that is more comprehensive than most:

https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/how-read-italian-wine-labels

 

[Bamaman]

There are no direct flights from the U.S to Turin. You can go on Air France connecting in Paris or British Airways connecting in London Gatwick. You could also go on KLM connecting in Amsterdam Schiphol. And EasyJet goes there from Gatwick too.

Another option would to fly into Milan Malpensa and catch a train 85 miles west to Turin. American Airlines and Delta fly to Milan from JFK. United Airlines flies to Milan from Newark.

 

[audreyh1]

We did a flight into Milan and train to Turin in the late 90s. This included a dramatic crossing of the huge Po river.

The Po river is in sad shape right now due to drought. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/10/po-river-italy-drought-climate

 

[Freedom56]

We were in the Piedmont region a few weeks ago in Stesa and visited Isola Bella on Lago Maggiore. Here are some photos from the palace garden. Stresa and the Borromean Islands are one of the nicest locations in Italy. It's a 40 minute drive from Milan or you can go by train (about 30 minutes). It's 20 minutes from the Simplon Pass in Switzerland. It was our fifth time there and it never gets old. This time it was bargain as the dollar is now worth more than the Euro. You can eat like lunch like a king for about 30 Euros each including wine or a normal lunch for about $15 Euros.

 

[NW-Bound]

We were in the Piedmont region a few weeks ago in Stesa and visited Isola Bella on Lago Maggiore. Here are some photos from the palace garden. Stresa and the Borromean Islands are one of the nicest locations in Italy.

I knew of Stresa and the Borromean Islands, but had to save it for the next visit. So many places, so little time.

It's 20 minutes from the Simplon Pass in Switzerland...

I beg to differ. I don't believe anyone can drive that fast on that mountain road.

 

[NW-Bound]

Around the Alps region, so far I love Northern Italy the best. Beautiful country, nice people, superb food and wine.

And the prices are lower too. Just cross the border into Switzerland or even France, and you pay quite a bit more for everything.

PS. Next time, I will fly to Milan and go from there, instead of driving from Lyon, France. I did the latter intentionally because I wanted to visit Lyon, Annecy and Yvoire. However, the driving on the mountain roads is tiring, and I will minimize it next time.

 

[explanade]

I did spend 3 nights in Verona at an agriturismo a few miles from old town, but did not look for regional wines there.

And speaking of Verona, I think it is overrated due to the fantasy of Romeo and Juliet. Trento old town is classier and less crowded.

And Bergamo is also worthy of a visit.

Agree about Bergamo but love Verona. I don't consider the Juliet house even that great a draw. Shakespeare set a couple of other plays in Verona because he was using old Italian tales and adapting them for stage.

But it has architecture across millennia. There if of course the famous Arena where they still have operas and other concerts in the summer. But there is are also the remains of a Roman theater north of the center, just across the river, that many people don't get to. Above it is a park and a museum, which can be reached by a modern funicular.

I also like the Scaligero bridge, really beautiful on a sunny day. Lake Garda is nearby, along with Valpolicella wineries in the hills to the SE of the Lake, though the norther part of Lake Garda is more beautiful.

Never been to Trento, mainly been to the smaller Dolomite towns. I'm sure they're beautiful, surrounded by the mountains. Thing about Italy is that there are so many beautiful places, you don't have to choose if you have the time.

 

[explanade]

From 2016-2019 I spent two weeks each May in Alba, in the heart of the Piedmont region. year I arranged a group outing including a winery tour. The first year I bought a full case of wine and had it shipped home. The winery was Cavollotto. The case, with shipping costs to the U.S., was $240 paid by credit card. It was a steal. When I spied a rare bottle in our PA wine stores about three years ago, it was $79. I bought it. If I recall, the nebbiolo grape varietal is fairly unique to the Langhe region.

Italy, like France, has government regulations regarding the labeling and classification of its wines. Look for DOC, or DOCG if you want the highest quality. There are many websites explaining this, as well as how to read an Italian wine label. Here is one that is more comprehensive than most:

https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/how-read-italian-wine-labels

Although the DOC certification is a way to justify higher prices too.

It's certainly possible to make good tasting sparkling wines outside of the Champagne region. But that imprimatur allows them to charge more.

Similar with Parmesano Reggiano, which go for at least $20 a pound if not more. Most of the restaurants you go to in Italy, they're not necessarily giving you grated Reggiano for your pasta and it still tastes good.

 

[oiseux]

My Italian colleagues used to say that if you had 10E or less, buy Italian, Spanish or Portuguese wines. If you had 60E, buy French. Their point being that the quality of Italian wines in the lower price ranges is quite good. Barolo is made with Nebbiolo and that is produces a type of wine that isn't tuned towards where American palates have drifted. I find fine Brunellos and super Tuscans like Tignanello much more distinct -- they are wines that you instantly recognize as being good. Or a distinctly made wine like a good Amarone.

I've just found that buying DOP Parmigiano-Reggiano is always preferable because the alternatives can be downright nasty (especially in the US). The regulations are more than marketing -- they do provide a measure of consistency.

 

[Freedom56]

I knew of Stresa and the Borromean Islands, but had to save it for the next visit. So many places, so little time.




I beg to differ. I don't believe anyone can drive that fast on that mountain road.

It's a highway and downhill all they way. We have done it before when we drove from Lausanne to Stresa and stopped at the Simplon pass to eat. Even Fred Flintstone could make it down in 20 minutes.

 

[NW-Bound]

It's a highway and downhill all they way. We have done it before when we drove from Lausanne to Stresa and stopped at the Simplon pass to eat. Even Fred Flintstone could make it down in 20 minutes.

Well, I checked once more with Google Maps.

It says "1 hr 12 min, 82.8 km" to drive from Simplon Pass to Stresa.

That's 69 km/hr or 43 mph. I did not go to Stresa, but took the same E62 road to Domodossola, then turned east towards Locarno. I believe I drove slower than 43 mph.

If you do it in 20 minutes, that's 248 km/hr. That's 2x the speed limit on Italian and French freeways (130 km/hr).