Ian Sutton
1000+ Posts
Hi Phyllis
For ease I'd suggest sticking to the Barbaresco villages for winery visits. It's quite feasible to get a modest priced taxi from Alba and arrange for them to pick you up at the end of the day.
Winery visits do need to be booked in advance, as very few (I can think of just 1 in Barbaresco) have a cellar door you can drop into - that's the well regarded Produttori del Barbaresco, and frankly the drop-in experience was so aloof / disappointing that I'd strongly suggest not trying it.
Visits can be booked via email, and most respond back inside a week, though there is always a chance of holidays delaying this. If this feels intimidating, then the local tourist office (Langheroero.it) started a booking service, which was free but with a cancellation fee to avoid producers being left in the lurch. Allow c. 1.5 hours per visit, plus time needed to walk (or drive) between them. The same site has a large (but not complete) listing. I do tend to also use a google map search, mainly to plot a route where we can easily walk between the wineries. Lunchtimes often bad, but few take the proper old long lunches, so we'd tend to go for (say) 9:30 & 11:30 appointments in the morning, plus one post lunch appointment. If you find yourself in Barbaresco itself and do want a drop in tasting, then the Enoteca facing the Municipio has wines on taste in a very pleasant old building.
The visits usually get a quick glance out at the vineyards near the winery, plus the room where they do the grape-crushing / vinification, plus the barrel room, and sometimes the bottling / labeling line. From there off to the tasting room to sit down, taste, talk and often to have a little cheese, salami or grissini to help cleanse or condition the palate. I've never been pressurised to buy wine in Piemonte, but it's ideal to at least buy a bottle if you tasted one you liked. My usual pain is that I'd love to buy much more, but the perils of air travel preclude it. Producers are very understanding about this and will happily dig out importer details for your country.
Which wineries? Depends on your tastes and budget. We're not in the Gaja league of producers - well above my pay grade! Ones we've enjoyed around Barbaresco include
- Albino Rocca, a great range, lovely tasting room, friendly, with good whites as well as reds, plus I found them great across the range
- Moccagatta, a little heavy-handed on the oak, but that aside, also an enjoyable tasting
- La Ca Nova. A great location in Barbaresco itself, with somewhat rambling and slightly ramshackle surroundings. The wines are very cheap indeed for the region, and actually pretty decent to my palate. Nothing profound, but fine value
For food, I'd suggest heading to Treiso instead, with all of the restaurants good in their own (rather distinct way). Ciau del Tornavento is the fanciest (with a legendary wine cellar), and oddly the only one I've seen negative comments on (yet balanced by equally very enthusiastic comments). We've eaten in the other three and very much enjoyed each meal.
Alba itself has some well-regarded restaurants, but we seem to have been a little unlucky. Such is the way of these things, or possibly the timing of visits. Also plenty of very good food shops to make a fancy picnic with, or to grab something simpler to eat 'on the hoof'.
Hope this helps
Regards
Ian
For ease I'd suggest sticking to the Barbaresco villages for winery visits. It's quite feasible to get a modest priced taxi from Alba and arrange for them to pick you up at the end of the day.
Winery visits do need to be booked in advance, as very few (I can think of just 1 in Barbaresco) have a cellar door you can drop into - that's the well regarded Produttori del Barbaresco, and frankly the drop-in experience was so aloof / disappointing that I'd strongly suggest not trying it.
Visits can be booked via email, and most respond back inside a week, though there is always a chance of holidays delaying this. If this feels intimidating, then the local tourist office (Langheroero.it) started a booking service, which was free but with a cancellation fee to avoid producers being left in the lurch. Allow c. 1.5 hours per visit, plus time needed to walk (or drive) between them. The same site has a large (but not complete) listing. I do tend to also use a google map search, mainly to plot a route where we can easily walk between the wineries. Lunchtimes often bad, but few take the proper old long lunches, so we'd tend to go for (say) 9:30 & 11:30 appointments in the morning, plus one post lunch appointment. If you find yourself in Barbaresco itself and do want a drop in tasting, then the Enoteca facing the Municipio has wines on taste in a very pleasant old building.
The visits usually get a quick glance out at the vineyards near the winery, plus the room where they do the grape-crushing / vinification, plus the barrel room, and sometimes the bottling / labeling line. From there off to the tasting room to sit down, taste, talk and often to have a little cheese, salami or grissini to help cleanse or condition the palate. I've never been pressurised to buy wine in Piemonte, but it's ideal to at least buy a bottle if you tasted one you liked. My usual pain is that I'd love to buy much more, but the perils of air travel preclude it. Producers are very understanding about this and will happily dig out importer details for your country.
Which wineries? Depends on your tastes and budget. We're not in the Gaja league of producers - well above my pay grade! Ones we've enjoyed around Barbaresco include
- Albino Rocca, a great range, lovely tasting room, friendly, with good whites as well as reds, plus I found them great across the range
- Moccagatta, a little heavy-handed on the oak, but that aside, also an enjoyable tasting
- La Ca Nova. A great location in Barbaresco itself, with somewhat rambling and slightly ramshackle surroundings. The wines are very cheap indeed for the region, and actually pretty decent to my palate. Nothing profound, but fine value
For food, I'd suggest heading to Treiso instead, with all of the restaurants good in their own (rather distinct way). Ciau del Tornavento is the fanciest (with a legendary wine cellar), and oddly the only one I've seen negative comments on (yet balanced by equally very enthusiastic comments). We've eaten in the other three and very much enjoyed each meal.
Alba itself has some well-regarded restaurants, but we seem to have been a little unlucky. Such is the way of these things, or possibly the timing of visits. Also plenty of very good food shops to make a fancy picnic with, or to grab something simpler to eat 'on the hoof'.
Hope this helps
Regards
Ian
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