THE REALM OF BAROLO

Savour Piedmont’s finest flavours on this full-day excursion to the Langhe region, reign of the King of Italian Wines, His Majesty Barolo. You will learn all about this prized wine on a visit to a wine estate and a tour of a castle where artefacts relating to farm life are on display. You will also feast your senses on a delicious meal at a Michelin-star restaurant and enjoy a wine tasting at a highly esteemed cantina in Barolo.

Meet your private guide and driver at your accommodation in Turin and set off for an award-winning estate, situated south-west of Alba. The land belongs to a local family that has been producing wine since the 1930s and owns some of the region’s most highly regarded vineyards. Here, accompanied by a member of staff, you will explore the property and cellar, hear about the different stages in the wine-making process and discover the characteristics of the terroir and climate that make wines produced in Langhe so exquisite. You will also get to know the strict regulations that define the production of Barolo which must contain 100% Nebbiolo grapes and be aged at least 38 months before being released. But every winery has its own precious formulas which you will have the chance to unravel and applaud! Enjoy a guided tasting of the estate’s wines, then rejoin your guide and driver and head for the Castle of Grinzane Cavour.

Set amidst the gently rolling vineyards of the UNESCO-listed Langhe, this castle is the perfect backdrop for your introduction to local history and traditional agricultural activities. The castle’s fame is closely linked to its most illustrious resident, Piedmontese statesman and architect of the Italian unification Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, who lived here from 1830 to 1849. Today the castle houses the Regional Wine Cellar, showcasing top-notch Piedmontese producers, and an Ethnographic Museum which tells the story of the rural world. Here guests will find original period furniture and items connected with Cavour and his stay, together with explanatory panels and artefacts pertaining to wine production. Among the highlights are also displays focusing on truffles, reproductions of a cask-maker’s workshop, 17th and 19th century kitchen settings and a distillery from the 1700s.

For the delight of food loving visitors, the premises are also home to an elegant 1* Michelin-star restaurant, priding itself on offering the very best in regional cuisine, seasoned with influences from Ligurian gastronomy and enriched with the chef’s distinctive esprit français. Traditional Piedmontese fare, creatively mixed with Provençal and Mediterranean aromas, is offered to an appreciative clientele, drawn here by enticing menus featuring the freshest of ingredients. Here guests will be treated to a fine dining experience featuring carefully studied, seasonal dishes.

After lunch and a tour of the castle, a short drive will take you to a wine cellar known for its use of strictly traditional wine-making techniques and producing some of the most revered expressions of Barolo. Austere, complex and powerfully structured, these wines have been conceived as “monuments” to tradition, true works of art painstakingly crafted by talented oenologists and, most of all, by the expert hands of time. Extended maceration and long ageing in large Slavonian oak casks are indeed largely responsible for the high quality of these masterpieces. As you savour some of the estate’s wines, your guide will explain why it is only in Piedmont that Nebbiolo grapes achieve such outstanding results. You will also get to know the mission and philosophy of this cantina, committed to sustainable farming and upholding a firm belief in the wisdom of experience handed down from generation to generation.

Top off your day with a stroll through the quaint old town of Barolo, dominated by the 16th century Falletti Castle and replete with wine shops and cellars, before riding in comfort, through the gorgeous Piedmontese landscape, back to your hotel in Turin.