Piedmont: Barolo, Barbaresco and the Langhe table

Piedmont is the region that taught me a wine country can be walked. The Langhe hills south of Alba, in north-west Italy, hold Barolo and Barbaresco within 25 kilometres of each other, close enough that we drive twenty minutes and then get out. Six days, five estates and one grape, Nebbiolo, made five ways: large old botti at a classic family house, barriques at the best-known modernist cellar, converted in 1983, long macerations and years of patience at two traditionalists, and a small organic farm on a Barbaresco crest. In late October and November the white truffles are in; in May and June the same route runs green. Turin to Turin, six to ten guests, the table every evening. The Piedmont guide has the geology in detail.

Day 1: Turin to Alba#

We meet at 12:00 at Turin Porta Nuova station, or at Turin airport an hour later for those flying in, and drive 80 kilometres south-east to Alba, about 1 h 10 min, hazelnuts giving way to vines after Bra. Alba sits at 172 metres on the Tanaro; our hotel is a small one inside the old centre, so the minibus stops at the edge of the pedestrian zone and we walk the last stretch. In autumn the white truffle fair runs on weekends from early October into December, and on a market day we go straight there, where the trifolai sell Tuber magnatum Pico by the gram. At 17:30 in the hotel I pour four wines to set the vocabulary before any cellar: Dolcetto, Barbera d’Alba, Langhe Nebbiolo, Barbaresco. Welcome dinner at a trattoria nearby: carne cruda battuta al coltello, tajarin al burro, and in season the first truffle shaved over them at the table.

Day 2: Vergne, La Morra and a walk down to Barolo#

At 09:30 we drive 25 minutes up to Vergne, the highest hamlet of the Barolo commune at 350 to 480 metres, where Aldo Vaira founded G.D. Vajra in 1972. One of his children shows us round; Giuseppe makes the wine, Francesca runs the hospitality, Isidoro the vineyards. Stained glass by Padre Costantino Ruggeri lights a cellar of large Slavonian botti. The Barolo from Bricco delle Viole, planted in 1949, is violets and red fruit with a tannin that arrives late and stays; the Freisa Kyè reminds us the Langhe is not only Nebbiolo. Lunch in La Morra, ten minutes on: plin and a Barbera. From the belvedere the Barolo amphitheatre opens, and we walk down through the Brunate and Cerequio crus to Barolo village, 4 kilometres in an hour, on the Tortonian marl that makes La Morra wines perfumed and soft-edged. The Castello Falletti holds the WiMu wine museum. Minibus to Alba at 17:30; dinner is free tonight.

Day 3: Annunziata, Serralunga and the Rinaldi table#

Twenty minutes from Alba, at Cascina Nuova in Annunziata below La Morra, Elio Altare cut up the family botti with a chainsaw in 1983 to make room for barriques, Burgundy in his head. Silvia Altare, beside him since 2003, pours. A few days of maceration in rotary fermenters, then mostly used French oak: the Barolo Arborina and the Barbera Larigi are polished, dark-fruited, a different idea of the same grape; I do not ask you to choose. Lunch in Castiglione Falletto, then Serralunga d’Alba under its 14th-century castle: Serravallian Lequio marl and Diano sandstone here, firmer and slower wines, and a glass at the viewpoint to prove it. Dinner at 20:00 in Barolo village with a flight from Giuseppe Rinaldi, founded in 1870, run today by Marta and Carlotta Rinaldi: Langhe Freisa, Rosae from Ruché, Barolo Tre Tine and Brunate, rose, tar, decades ahead. I keep this one at the table rather than in the cellar; the wines come to us, beside brasato al Barolo.

Day 4: Barbaresco and Roagna#

Bags in the minibus at 09:30 for Barbaresco, 15 minutes north-east at 150 to 400 metres, where the rules ask 26 months of ageing instead of 38 and the wines open sooner. At Località Paglieri, Roagna has made dry wine since 1880; Alfredo Roagna and his son Luca, winemaker since the 2000s, use no outside oenologist. Grass grows between the rows, woods stay around the vines, and the Nebbiolo ferments under a submerged cap for 60 to 70 days before about five years in large old botti. Pajé and Montefico side by side: pale, perfumed, savoury, tannins that go on for a minute. Lunch in the village, then rooms at a family-run guesthouse among the vines. Afternoon: the medieval Torre di Barbaresco and the Enoteca Regionale in the former church of San Donato. At 19:30, five minutes to Neive for dinner, finanziera for the brave and tajarin for the rest, with a bottle from the Produttori del Barbaresco, the cooperative refounded in 1958.

Day 5: Tre Stelle, the truffle woods and the farewell table#

Cascina delle Rose sits on the crest of the Rio Sordo cru at the Tre Stelle border: family land since 1948, an estate since 1992, 5.5 hectares of organic vines. Giovanna Rizzolio opened Barbaresco’s first licensed agriturismo here; her sons Davide and Riccardo Sobrino have led since 2017. Two Barbarescos from two soils: Tre Stelle, thin over limestone, perfumed and fine; Rio Sordo, deeper clay, fuller; then the Barbera Donna Elena. Lunch at the estate. In autumn the afternoon goes to the woods below Tre Stelle with a trifolao and his dog; the legal season runs from 21 September to 31 January, peaks from late October, and most years the dog earns her dinner. In spring, a longer walk between the crus. Farewell dinner at 20:00 in Barbaresco: tajarin under truffle, brasato, Castelmagno, bonet with Moscato d’Asti, and one bottle from each of the week’s five houses in a row, to settle the botti and barrique argument, or not.

Day 6: Barbaresco to Turin#

Breakfast among the vines, then 1 h 15 min to Turin, timed to flights and trains. We can stop in Alba on the way for last bottles, or leave anyone with a late departure in the centre of Turin for a bicerin and an afternoon at the Egyptian Museum. Barolo travels well in checked luggage wrapped in a jumper and does not mind a cold hold; shipping within the EU can usually be arranged, ask me. Lunch is on your own.

Who this tour is for#

For people who drink Nebbiolo at home and want to stand on the two soils that make it two wines, and for eaters, because the Langhe table is the reason I run this week in truffle season rather than at harvest. It suits first-time visitors to Piedmont and those who came once, ate well, and never got inside a cellar. The walking is on farm tracks, an hour at most, and both the walk and the truffle hunt can be skipped. Vegetarians eat very well here: tajarin with butter, plin, Castelmagno and the truffle itself. My note on what I pour and why sets up the botti and barrique question. If skin-contact whites are your subject, the Friuli week is the other Italian route I run; for Nerello on lava, Etna. Any of it can run as a private tour for two to twelve, with a different cellar list if you have favourites.

Practical notes#

Flights: Turin has direct flights from several European hubs; from Prague, Brno or Vienna check connections, or fly to Milan Malpensa, two hours from Alba, and I arrange the pickup. Weather: late October and early November bring morning fog, 8 to 16 °C and rain on some days; it usually lifts by noon. May and June run 18 to 26 °C. Pack a waterproof, shoes for farm tracks and a warmer layer for cellars at 12 to 14 °C. Mobility: cellar steps and cobbles in every village; the hour’s walk on day 2 and the truffle afternoon are optional. Cards work everywhere except with truffle sellers and the smallest cellars, so carry some cash; shops close 13:00 to 16:00. Plugs are type L and F; a Czech or Austrian SIM roams without charge. The FAQ covers single rooms and dietary needs; my note on visiting a winemaker explains why we arrive on time and why I ask you to swallow less than you would like.