Nancy's Travels

Early in the morning (well, about 9:30am), we set out for the town of Alba to check out the local mercato (market), hoping to catch a glimpse of the local produce and maybe, if we're lucky, a truffle! The market was buzzing, crammed into a narrow street lined with shops, gellaterias, and patisserieas on either side. We were dissapointed to find most stalls filled with pajamas, cheap purses, and various types of clothing not made in Italy. We did, however, come across a wine and fine foods shop which had some black and white truffles on display. They are ugly little suckers, the smallest white truffle about the size of a regular mushroom going for 27 Euros. Across the way we found a bakery crammed with customers and naturally got in line for some ham & cheese filled foccacia, yum!

After Alba, we head to Bra (apprx. 30min away) for the cheese festival. Bra is allegedly the founding city of the Slow Food Movement (all I know is that it is something for foodies). After searching through the town piazzas and unable to find any signs of pungent dairy products, I look closer at the printout Chris had in our itineray packet and read "Bra Cheese Festival, 2007". Chris looked defeated and crestfallen when I broke the news. There is no cheese festival this weekend. What do we do? Head back to see Nicola of course! He'll know what we can do for the afternoon...

Before long we are driving out to our first Barolo winery, Ravello. Carlo Ravello greets us in the parking lot, and we tell him in broken Italian how much we enjoyed his wine with dinner last night. He seemed pleased, I think. Either that or he's thinking "these americans have no clue." He takes us up to his tasting room, a round room on stilts with large glass windows offering a semi-panoramic view of the surrounding vineyards. We proceed to taste his wines and he gets out books with pictures to convey the terroir of the region, and where each of his wines gets the grapes. He proudly shows us articles featuring his wines in Wine Spectator and Barolo books. Apparently 80% of his wines are slated for export, and California distribution goes through San Rafael! yay! After going through a few Dolcettos and Barberas, we try the lovely Barolos - very drinkable now, but can easily lay for another 6 years to realize its full potential. We buy 3 bottles and plan to drink at least one of them when we get to cook in Rome. We say arrivederci to Carlo and move on to our next winery, only 5 minutes away - apparently Carlo and Renato are also very good friends.

Renato Corino winery is located in a lovely brick-red house surrounded by vines. There is a wooden picnic table set up on the front patio with several bottles, wine glasses, and a basket of breadsticks. Lilianna (wife of Renato), is most gracious and speaks great English. She instantly warms to us and gabbles on about their vines, the area, Renato. Renato joins us - he is quintessential Italian - his smile conveys genuine warmth, and there's a twinkle in his eyes. You can tell he loves the land and what he does. There is dirt in his fingernails, and his hands are worn but gentle. He does not speak English, but we manage to communicate nevertheless. He tells us that the nebbiolo grapes love warm weather during the day and cold nights. Lilianna explains that the word Nebbiolo may actually stem from "nebia", meaning fog. We enjoy their Dolcetta, Barbera, and Barolos (of course). Our favorite turns out to be their Barolo from the vines directly surrounding the house, the Arborina vineyard. I notice two little hands printed in gold on their label, and look inquisitively at Lilianna. It turns out they represent Signore Renato's hands. He is known for his large hands, so they decided it was fitting to have them on the lable. As I drew my camera to shoot the label, he sticks out his hands and exclaim "Originale!", so I took a shot of his extraordinarily large hands instead. Bravo! Before we knew it, 2 hours had passed and we had thoroughly enjoyed their company. As the sun started to retreat behind the Piemonte hills, we said our good-byes and pulled our car out of the gravel driveway. Warmed by such hospitality, Chris and I agree this visit with Renato & Lilianna will definitely be one of the highlights of our trip.

Per Nicola's earlier recommendation, dinner was at a local trattoria -Nonna Gennia's. There was no menu, and they spoke little english. So we ordered a bottle of Barolo and waited to be fed. I don't think I was even hungry yet. The antipasti arrived (3 tastings - carpacio, greens, egg with pickled cabbage of sorts), followed by another antipasti (3 tastings - i forget), followed by taglietelle pasta, followed by tortellini pasta filled with meat & cheese, followed by a stewed beef with polenta, and followed by a stewed rabbit with carrots. Then dessert showed up (we insisted on only 1 serving), which was 6 little dessert items arranged like a flower. Stuffed, we asked for the check - only $50 euro for the meal (not counting wine)!!! Ultimo! Back to Castello di Sinio for our last night in Piemonte...