Italia Day 2

We didn’t get back to the hotel until really late the first night. Probably around 1am. The hotel we stayed in was located in Barbaresco and was this little quaint family run hotel with the most adorable Italian ambiance.

Before we got started on Day 2 in Italy I enjoyed this delicious Italian breakfast of pastries, cheese, and cured meats.

As we drove into Barolo I learned a little about the areas surrounding it. Barbaresco DOCG is only made up of 240 hectars, which really isn’t that much compared to other DOCG’s. The area around Barolo and Barbaresco is filled with small fields of hazelnut trees. I realized we were in the hazelnut capital of the world. They were going to harvest in just a few days-too bad I missed it!

Every town in the Piemonte has a small villa or castle on top. The castles were truly spectacular and looked like they were just out of a fairy tale. We drove south from Barbaresco, passed through Alba, and stopped in Barolo to take some pictures. This was nice because the views were beautiful.

castle of Barolo

Looking over vineyards in Barolo

The main grape of Barolo is nebbiolo, and nebbiolo needs a specific kind of soil to grow in. The soil in Barolo is perfect because it is a sandy soil called marne arenaria, and is very compacted, but has very good drainage. Sometimes you will see these big walls of marne arenaria as you are driving down the road.

Here is an interesting tidbit: Ages ago Barolo was the official wine of the Savoie family, from France, who owned all of the land.
We finally got to our first stop of the day: Rocche Costamagna.

Alessandro is the winemaker at Rocche Costamagna, and was so wonderful to take us on a tour of the area around his winery to see some more great views as well as teach us about the grapes, and how they are harvested. We then proceeded inside to get a tour of his winery and see how things are done after harvest.

The Nebbiolo grape is very tannic, and every year can taste different just depending on the weather. Alessandro will taste the wine in the barrel and decide if it stays in longer or not.

He makes many great wines, but we are most familiar with his Langhe Arneis so it was nice to learn about his other wines as well.

French Barriques

The nebbiolo is such a rich wine with so much structure that he chooses to age it in Slovenian oak for 2 years to give it the softness it needs.

Alessandro is implementing a new procedure for his Langhe nebbiolo. He is aging it all in stainless steel. The Dolcetto, Arneis, and Rose are also all done in stainless steel.

Even in the cellar, when summer is hot the wine evaporates while aging in the barrel. Alessandro is able to keep track by the device on top of the barrels.

Interesting tidbit: The grapes used to make his rose come from the same bunches of Nebbiolo that are used for the Barolo and combined with a little Barbera.

After the tour was finished we headed to his tasting room, which by the way had the most unbelievable view of Barolo, for some wine and lunch.

View from Tasting Room

Tasting Room

We tried all of his delicious wines while tasting various salads, meats, and cheese. Everything was paired perfectly. The salads were so different, and each one was so yummy!

Shrimp Salad with fennel

Tuna Salad with rice and eggs

Salad with rabbit and walnuts

My plate

Salads are followed my Veal with Tuna Sauce

Don't forget the cheese!

After we all plated our salads Alessandro drizzled olive oil over each one. This is something I had never done before, nor was I used to, but it just made all the flavors POP! It gave such a unique flavor to all the salads, and I will definitely be doing this more often!

Alessandro was such a great host, and I hope I get to see him again soon. In the meantime I will be enjoying his great wines.

Alessandro and Me

Alessandro and Manu

After a wonderful morning at Rocche Costamagna we went to Manu’s house for a little relaxation. He lives at the Bricco dei Tati Estate. We did not try any of these wines, but I know them well and they are DE-LISH!

We sat by the pool, saw an example of how green harvest is done (where they cut the end and the bad grapes off the bunches in order to keep the ripe ones still growing well), and just relaxed.

WOW!

I ate the most amazing peach of my life while I was at his house. There are peach trees all around, and this peach was so ripe and juicy. I didn’t get a picture because I just devoured it!

After some relaxation we headed to our next stop-Lodali winery
Lodali is a family run winery, and Walter Lodali is the winemaker and owner. He is so gracious, and was so much fun to get to know. He gave us a quick tour of his winery and explained how things are done. We tried a few barrel samples including the Barbaresco Lorens 2007, which was my first barrel sample ever.

It smelled oaky with dark fruit, was a little tannic, had lots of juicy sweet fruit, and was tart on the end. Very sweet ripe fruit in the beginning, but very unpolished on the end. Since it is a barrel sample it is still aging and will become much more refined and silky on the end as time goes on.

Then decided it was time for dinner so we headed out to the Lodali bed and breakfast where we would do a tasting, and have dinner. We stopped to see his vineyards on the way.

In the Lodali Vineyards

Once we got to the bed and breakfast I knew I was in love. The view again was amazing. You are going to hear it a lot, but it is the truth.

More Barolo Vineyards

Town of Barolo off in the distance-where we were earlier in the day

We did a tasting with some of his entry level wines, and then sat down at a big table for an extravagant dinner.

Tasting

Mary Beth(Manu's wife), Walter Lodali, Me

I was not able to get pictures of everything because my camera was dying, but I took pictures of my 2 favorite dishes.
Everything was so elegant, and the restaurant was so cute. We started with a seafood course, which was so fresh tasting. Seafood just doesn’t taste like this in the states. Then we had a small salad with “tuna hen”, walnuts, and balsamic vinegar. My favorite dish was the risotto. This risotto was creamy and had the faintest tasting blue cheese melted in with a small piece of delicate foie gras right in the middle. Talk about decadent!

Risotto with blue cheese and foie gras

So you would think the meal ended there, but oh no..we are in Italy..remember? We then had our main course of rabbit in a bread crust stuffed with sausage and black truffle. Mmm I am getting hungry just thinking about it.
My other favorite dish was the dessert.

This was a chocolate mousse on top of a chocolate biscotti. SOO good! And wait, I’m not done..that was followed by a selection of sorbet, AND don’t forget the espresso. WOW! What a meal!

Walter was so nice and hospitable, and even gave me some Italian coffee to take home. The wines we had with our dinner were some that I will never forget. We started with the Barbera Lorens, then had the Barbaresco Lorens, and finished with the Barolo Lorens. All 2006 vintage. These wines were big, juicy, silky, and just delicious with this type of meal.

We are most familiar with the Lodali Moscato d’ Asti which we carry in the store. We drank this with the dessert. I always taste some mint in the wine, and I was told that mint grows all around the vines which gives it that flavor. I thought that was interesting.

This was an unforgettable night, and I just fell in love with Walter and his wines. Truly an amazing family!

Walter Lodali and me