Today we left for our annual trip to the Piemonte Region of Italy. It is a great area of Northwestern Italy known as the land of wine and fine cuisine, of Barolo and truffles. It is a land that knows how to treat its guests well: from the finest fabrics to luxury jewelry, from Baroque marvels to the lakes that enchanted Dickens and the mountains that the world came to know a few years  ago when its peaks hosted the 20th Olympic Winter Games in 2006.

To crown all this is culture, art and architecture that only a region that has written the history of Europe can offer: Baroque, art nouveau, the sumptuous royal residences of the House of Savoy, the palaces and castles that have been declared a world heritage site by UNESCO, the abbeys, Guarini’s chapel that hosts the Holy Shroud are just some examples of a region where even the smallest town has an extraordinary history to tell.  We first came to this area 4 years ago with our great friends Fred and Therese Milad and are now coming back with them and their Ventoux Wine Tour for our third time. I really enjoy hanging out with both Fred and Therese and enjoying fine wine and incredible Piemonte Region Food.

One of the big reasons we go to the Piemonte Region of Italy every year at this time, besides tasting the incredible wine is to attend the incredible Alba Truffle Fair. Alba has a tremendous amount to offer: Castles, fine wines, magnificent scenery, hazelnuts, and much more, so it’s worth a visit at any time, though if you can you should time your visit to coincide with the truffle fair in the fall. Truffles are a rare and delicate type of edible mushroom that grows around the Piemonte Region. Truffles grow underground among the roots of oak, elm, chestnut, pine and willow trees where they form a symbiotic relationship with their environment. Duplicating these conditions for growing truffles commercially is not feasible or cost-effective on a wide scale, hence their high price. Truffles look potato-like, round and irregular with either smooth or wrinkled skin.

Truffle hunting is big business between November and March in Italy. Every year at this time "Truffle Hunters" use specially trained dogs to hunt for truffles, usually at night. The "Truffle Hunters" hunt at night so the location of any truffle colonies they find remains a secret. In the past female pigs or sows were used to hunt for truffles, as the pungent odor the truffles emit is similar to that of a male pig. However, the sows were difficult to hold back once the truffle was located and would readily consume the expensive delicacy, and so most hunters turned to dogs.

The taste of a truffle is often compared to garlic blended with an earthiness or pungent mushroomy flavor. They are most often served uncooked, shaved into foods like pasta, salad or omelets. They are also served in light sauces, on fondue or even on pizza.

Of the many varieties of truffles some of the most famous are the Italian white truffle, there is also the cheaper black truffle. The white truffle, often referred to as the white diamond, is considered the most rare and demands the highest price. Truffles in general are among the most expensive foods in the world. A high quality white truffle sells for $100-$150 U.S. dollars per pound.

The other reason for visiting this region is the incredible Italian Red Wines. Incredible earthy wines such as the Barolo, Barbaresco, and some super Piemonte Blends. This region of Italy is also home to my absolute favorite wineries of all time known as Gaja and their Barbaresco Gaja. Barolo is for connoisseurs one of Italy’s most collected wine; for beginners it is a difficult one to understand. An introduction requires the proper selection of quality and drinkability. This masculine, full-bodied wine should display elegance, depth, and a wealth of tastes and aromas that only the Nebbiolo grape can deliver. These wines come from the prized vineyards of Barolo, which sit in the Langhe Hills of the Piemonte region, just southwest of the town of Alba. This thin skinned grape, much like the noble Pinot Noir, is difficult to grow due to climatic conditions. In fact, Nebbiolo is named for the autumn fog that descends over the Piemonte hills during the harvest. However, with the cooperation of Mother Nature and the artisanship of its winemakers, it can produce a uniquely perfumed and powerful reds. Read more about Barolo Wine here.

Outside Barolo, Nebbiolo takes the name of the various northern Piemonte villages around which it resides, but none is as eminent as Barbaresco. It is the third most collected wine of Italy and is commonly referred to as Barolo’s younger sibling: where Barolo is king, Barbaresco is queen. The name Barbaresco is synonymous with the name Gaja - but the "Queen of the Wines" does not begin and end with this signature label. The tiny Barbaresco DOCG sits just ten miles northeast of Barolo and once again the Nebbiolo is capable of displaying her nobility in the Langhe hills. The small DOCG is broken up into three subzones around the villages of Barbaresco, Neive, and Treiso, and as in Barolo the practice of single-vineyard bottling is the calling card of these collectible gems. For the most part Barbaresco lived in relative obscurity until the 1960’s, when Giovanni Gaja  and Bruno Giacosa showed what it could become. However, it wasn’t until Angelo Gaja introduced single-vineyard efforts and canvassed the globe that Barbaresco took its rightful place in cellars around the globe alongside the grand crus of Bordeaux, the cult wines of California, and big brother Barolo.

Barbaresco tends to be slightly finer, less tannic, and more elegant and approachable than Barolo for a variety of reasons, including a cooler climate, a lower alcohol level requirement (12.5% compared with Barolo’s 13%), a shorter ripening period, and less stringent ageing requirements - Barbaresco must age at least two years before release with a minimum of one year in barrel, while Barolo must be aged for three years with at least two in barrel. The soil of Barbaresco is fundamentally a calcareous marl of the Tortonian epoch (as opposed to the Helvetian soil found in the powerful Barolo communes of Monforte and Serralunga) and tends to yield softer, more aromatic wines similar to those of the Barolo communes La Morra and Barolo. This is particularly true for the wines from the Barbaresco sub zone, which is home to Ceretto’s, Bricco Rocche. The wines from Neive can be a little more tannic and powerful, as is exemplified by the wines of Giacosa. However, producer style can mask the characterisitics of the area so stereotyping is difficult. For instance, the Barbarescos of Gaja reveal rich fruit and more concentration than the classic style of Giacosa or the well-recognized cooperative Produttori di Barbaresco.

I hope to show you a little bit of what incredible food and wine the Piemonte Region has to offer through the next few days as we travel through this region and visit a few of our favorite wineries and explore a few new ones as well. We left Salt Lake City on Wednesday afternoon and took the direct flight from Salt Lake City to Paris. I really like this convenient flight and it was good to see that it is still a full flight. It really cuts down on the travel time when flying to Europe. We landed in Paris after a nine and a half hour flight. We ran through the Charles de Gaul, Paris Airport to catch our flight to Turin. We made the flight just in time and arrived in Turin, Italy about 3:00 in the afternoon and then headed to our Hertz Rental Car. Somehow we managed to fit luggage for eight into our two rental cars. Of course Rick and I had the more luggage then all the others combined. We even had more luggage then Trish, who is staying here in Italy for 6 weeks. I justify the extra luggage by saying that it is used to transport my wine back to Utah.

We arrived in Alba around 5:00 in the evening. We are staying a new little hotel that opened recently and is called Palazzo Finati. It is an elegant small hotel with incredible decor and comfortable rooms. The staff is incredible here and speaks excellent English. Tonight we headed down the street to a favorite Pizza Restaurant that we enjoy. It is great food and the old man that runs the restaurant is always very friendly and entertaining. The pizza is a true Italian pizza and paired with a great Barbaresco wine is a great way to end a long day of travel. As we headed back to the hotel to catch up on our sleep, we had to stop off and finish the night with some of the best gelatto I have ever had. There is a great little cafe here in Alba that makes the best tasting gelatto I have ever had. After eating our gelatto and walking back to our hotel, we ran into the annual "BANCO" celebration. "BANCO" is a lottery type of fundraiser by the Catholic Church. You pay a Euro to choose a rolled up slip of paper from a bin that has a number on it. They then match that number up with shelves of prizes. You can win anything from a sponge, or spoon rest to a potty training toilet or oven mitt.  Ok there are a few premium prizes….but all I ever seem to win are spatulas or dish washing gloves. My mother thought she was in Vegas. You should have heard her giggle as she pulled out her slips of rolled papered and they matched them up with her prizes; spoon rest, sponge, oven mitt, lady bug pin and a key chain. You would have thought she hit a $10,000.00 jackpot at the Venetian in Vegas. I am sure we will be visiting the BANCO, BANCO, BANCO a few more times this week.