Day trip to Piemonte
If anyone were to ask me a year ago at this time how I liked Italian wines, my response would’ve been something like, “um, it’s alright “. My experience in the past with wines from Italy has been, how should I say….not that great. I would go to my local grocer and randomly pick up a bottle of Chianti for example and think to myself, “That’s it? This is what all the rave is about?” I figured either Italian wines just aren’t as good as people make them out to be or….the better possibility, that I was missing something. So when I started planning a trip to Northern Italy for summer vacation I thought, what better opportunity to really learn about their wines than to go to the source? And that’s exactly what I did!
Torino, Italy (Piemonte Region)
Corey, one of my travel buddies and I, met up in Milan and together (along with Zoë of course) rode the high-speed train to Torino, gateway to Piemonte’s wine country. One word you definitely want to be on the lookout for is “degustazione” which means tasting in Italian, and the word “vini” which means wine.
Like many other wine regions in Europe, having a car is probably the easiest and best way to get around. Avis car rental usually has good deals and their office is located right in the city centre of Torino, within walking distance of the train station. Just be sure to book well in advance especially if you’re like me and only know how to drive cars with automatic transmission.
But unlike other regions in Europe such as neighboring France as example, here in Italy, you’ll need to make appointments ahead of time for wine tastings. I found the easiest way to do this was to send an email (you’ll find contact info on the websites) and arrange for a day and time that way. Many of the proprietors read and speak English so that won’t be an issue.
In Piemonte, I was mainly interested in the villages surrounding the towns of Barolo, Alba, and Barbaresco. They’re known for producing some of Italy’s finest (red) wines, primarily made from the Nebbiolo grape. Barolo, now one of my favorite wines ever, tend to be very rich and deep. Barbaresco, often referred to as Barolo’s “younger brother” are a little softer and very elegant!
Because Corey tends to prefer wines that are less dry and on the lighter side, the Asti region was also on our list of places to visit. Asti is known for its sparkling white wines called spumante, made from the Moscato grape, in general, but not exclusively. Now here is probably where I had the biggest surprise. When I think of Asti, what immediately comes to my mind is a spumante that is unsophisticated and overly sweet. But apparently, while this sweet-tasting wine is popular in the U.S., Italians tend to prefer the drier-style spumante.
Wine makers such as the ones at Gancia use special blending techniques, bringing in other grapes such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and use the same traditional method as the one used to make champagne. In fact, and this is just a quick side note, Carlo Gancia, founder of Cantine Gancia winery, was the pioneer of sparkling wines in Italy, before Prosecco. After spending time in Reims, France studying production of Champagne, he then returned to Italy and started making Italian sparkling wine. As a result, Italians produce very fine spumante that taste just like champagne from France. Many thanks to Francesca, the hostess at Gancia who shared her passion and knowledge about wines from this area!
Fratelli Serio & Battista Borgogno is a family owned winery near Barolo and made for another great place for degustazione. Federica, one of the grandaughters, showed us around and introduced us to some great wines. The Barbaresco made here is some of the best I’ve tasted. While red wines are the specialty, they also produce some very good white and sparkling wines as well.
So now my impressions of Italian wines? I love it! Cheers to la dolce vita!
