Alba

Sunday, it was time to hit the vines . . . er, books. We we went to the Province of Cuneo and took a wine tour to wineries in Barbaresco (a town in, of course, the Barbaresco comune) and Verduno, in the Barolo comune. Our sommelier picked us up in a Tesla, and off we went.

We were struck by the steepness and beauty on the hills. We’re very familiar with the wine country in Tuscany, famous for its hills, but these were much steeper. The vines were meticulously tended. It was a beautiful drive.

The winery in Barbaresco was Piercarlo Culasso, a small winery (6 hectares, about 15 acres) owned by a family which had grown grapes there for three generations but only began producing their own wine in 2017. As a result, everything is clean and state of the art modern. The current operation consists of the father and three siblings. By themselves, with no employees, they produce 20,000 bottles of wine!

After touring the pristine facilities, we studied their wine, tasting six wines, a 2020 Langhe Nebbiolo, a 2020 Barbera d’Alba and 2017, 2019, and 2020 vintages of their Barbaresco. We loved them all. The vertical tasting of Barbarescos was particularly interesting as we could study the different vintages and the effect of aging on the wine. Interesting, we felt that the 2020s, although very young, were more ready to drink than the older ones. The owner explained that the 2020 weather was extraordinarily good, just the right amount warmth, rain and sun, at just the right times. The vines had no hardships to overcome, which made for wines are ready to drink earlier, but less complex, perhaps less interesting.

After our visit, we had lunch at a nearby restaurant where we had an outside table looking out at the vines on the hills, and studied some more, examining a Barbara d’Alba with our delicious meal.

We then went to Castello di Verduno, a winery in Verduno. This was the opposite of the winery in Barbaresco; it has been in operation for over 100 years. Deep, dark, dusty cellars, a very traditional operation. They produce 200,000 bottles a year. We tasted a 2023 Verduno, 2021 Barbera d’Alba, 2020 Babaresco, and a 2020 Barolo. Once again, we felt that the 2020s were more ready to drink than the older ones. We lack detailed notes about these wines, by now we were getting a little, er, tired!

We returned to Alba, to find that we weren’t the only students! It was the Alba wine fest. All over the city center the streets were closed off and wine tasting booths were set up. There were at least 100 booths, with two wineries to a booth. For €18 (about $20) you got a glass, a pouch to carry it in, and unlimited tasting. The crowds were huge, but with so many booths it didn’t look like there was much of a wait anywhere.

The crowds were also very well behaved. Aside from some animated conversations (which you get in Italy anyway) it was fairly quiet. The next day we noted that the high school students going to school were much rowdier than the wine fest crowds.

After wandering around the fest for an hour or so (studying the crowds, but not the wine) we were ready to return to the Roberto Sarotto wine bar to conclude our studies in Alba. We tasted the pure Chardonnay as well as the impure one to see how they compared, and a local rosé. We then got serious and tasted four more Barolos ranging from 2016 to 2020 and confirmed our earlier observation that the just released 2020 vintage had matured faster than the earlier vintages and was drinking very nicely already.

The food served made this an apericena and we needed no dinner. We returned to our hotel satisfied that we had studied well!Read more