Our Piedmont tour has started and another joyful evening was had by all at Cortiletto d’Alba – one of Alba’s top restaurants.
Owner Elisabetta was on great form as we managed to negotiate our way through a delicious selection of appetisers, local Plin pasta, pork with hazlenuts and dessert. All washed down with some delicious Arneis and Dolcetto. The prefect start to our tour.
Tuesday was our first full day and we headed north of Alba for twenty five minutes to the Roero region and specifically to the town of Monta.
This is a very pretty area with a mix of vineyards and forests and home to the wonderful Arneis grape variety as well as Nebbiolo and Barbera amongst others. Our first stop was to Giovanni Almondo – one of the top estates. Stefano Almondo hosted our visit and he delivered a wonderfully concise insight into the local history, the development of viticulture over a thousand years and really conveyed his passion for the environment and his family estate.
Having tasted his fabulous Arneis and two contrasting Nebbiolo, we headed into the vineyard to get an even deeper insight into the family philosophy. Stefano is clearly very connected to the family land and spoke passionately about the future and the challenges that he foresees.
It was a fabulous visit and gave us many insights into the Roero region.
From Monta, it was twenty minutes south to the hill top village of Guarene which has stunning views of the area. Ristorante Miralanghe is a favourite haunt of mine and they deliver a truly delicious traditional lunch: Vitello tonnato, creamy risotto, tajarin pasta, slow cooked beef with polenta and rounded off with local Bunet dessert and hazelnut cake. We waddled out and prayed for a long coach journey to sleep it off.
Alas that was not to be the case as it was only twenty minutes to Barbaresco for a visit at the family estate of Montaribaldi.
The winery is situated on the top of a hill with the most quite magnificent views of the area and they have a tasting room perched on the edge which all makes for a stunning wine tasting experience. Hosted Michela and Antonella, we kicked off with an unexpected dry Fizz, followed by a terrific selection of Barbarescos culminating in the 2011 vintage which showed the ageing potential beautifully.
This was a great first full day!
Our afternoon’s adventures had revived us after our amazing lunch, and many of us strolled out into the lovely town of Alba for a drink or some shopping (or both!) in the evening.