First of all, I feel somewhat uncomfortable writing this post about the fantastic food and wine in Piemonte, when people in Burma are wondering where their next meal is coming from, and now thousands of people in China have died in an earthquake.
But I also want to write about the wonderful people we met in Piemonte before the memories have faded.
We went to this region of north-western Italy on the advice of friends, and many of the places we visited were on their recommendation. So Dick, Kristin and Matt, thank you – your advice truly made our 2.5 days in the region hugely enjoyable.
First thing to say about Piemonte is that it’s not that pretty. But it’s really not so bad looking either. If you took the rolling hills, vineyards, and fields of barley of Tuscany and scrunched them up into about one tenth the size, you would have the prettiest parts of Piemonte. The hills are lovely, they are just smaller and closer together. The vineyards are beautifully manicured with the vines in perfect rows, but there just aren’t as many of them. Even the kilometres seem shorter in Piemonte – I swear it took less time to drive five of them there than it did in Tuscany.
The second thing to say is that the hospitality is truly the warmest I have experienced in Europe. This started at Villa La Favorita, which is a lovely B and B just outside of Alba, and is run by a fantastic woman called Roberta. The place itself is gorgeous – a wonderful old, grand and comfortable house with gorgeous gardens and its own little vineyard. When we arrived Roberta brought us ample brochures, maps, and her own suggestions of the things to see and do. But she knows how to go easy. “Go to the Montforte region and plan to spend the day,” she implored. “Don’t overplan. Just let the day come to you.” She also poured us hefty glasses of her own wine – a fresh fruity red from the Grignolino grape, native to Piemonte.
We asked her for recommendations for dinner that night. She suggested Eno Club which is on a main square in Alba. The service was fantastic, the food delicious. Piemonte cuisine is known for being influenced by the French – mainly I think because it includes the use of many creamy sauces. We had a bottle of Barbera D’Alba from Sottimano. It was completely reasonable, and delicious. Dick had recommended this producer, and we deliberately sought out more Sottimano bottles from the village of Neive, close to his vineyards. When we asked for it, the shop keeper was enthusiastic: “Sottimano, Number one!” Andrea Sottimano also seems a real gentleman. I had written very last minute to see if he might have some time to show us his caves the next day. He replied a day later, apologised for not having seen his emails, and encouraged us to drop in next time we were through. This we found was very typically kind behaviour from the wine producers of Piemonte.
We did visit two caves near Montforte, about 25 minutes from Alba. The first was Conterno Fantino. Here, we were both completely charmed by Fabio Fantino, who is 25. Dressed in a “Barolo boyz” baseball cap, jeans and a sports jersey, we both assumed he was helping at the winery. We didn’t know he had been to Alba’s “wine high school” and that he was carrying on his dad’s winemaking tradition.
