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Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Italian Wine Adventure — Part IV
You may recall that local wine enthusiast Niki Foor has written about her trip to Italy — and the Italian wines and foods she encountered there — for Uncorked a time or two, or, actually, three, come to think of it. Today, Niki is back with part IV of the Italian Wine Adventure. Doesn’t a trip to Italy sound appealing right now?
By Niki Foor
Italian Wine Adventures - Alba
After spending Saturday settling in to our rented farmhouse in Piemonte, we were ready for more excitement. Sure, it was fun to wander the Barbera vineyards surrounding the farmhouse, picking hazelnuts from the trees surrounding the grapevines, but one of my dreams had always been to attend the Alba truffle festival.
My online research said the festival was held every weekend in October, and featured both black and white truffles. Since we rented the farmhouse from Saturday to Saturday, Sunday would be our only opportunity to visit. Armed with a GPS and a couple of Italian cell phones, the six of us piled into two vehicles and took off.
Our GPS indicated it would take us about an hour to get from the farmhouse to Alba, but that proved a bit optimistic. Even though it was a new GPS, theoretically equipped with the latest European maps, it didn’t know about the new highway between Asti (of Asti Spumante fame) and Alba. Add that to the round-abouts that separated our two vehicles and an hour stretched into a couple. Still, it was a beautiful fall day and the scenery was fascinating.
The truffle festival itself wandered all through the small town of Alba. Somewhat similar to a food festival in the USA, there were numerous booths selling all kinds of things. One significant difference, however, is that the Italians offer free samples of almost everything they’re selling; the intent of course is to entice one to buy.
Another significant difference, at least from my perspective, was the quality of the offerings. We tasted (and bought) fabulous pesto, made traditionally by an older gentleman with a mortar and pestle using fresh Genovese basil, pine nuts, and cheese.
I got to taste multiple types of honey, made from the pollen of all different types of flowers. The one I liked best was called Mille Fiore (a thousand flowers), and if my rudimentary understanding of Italian is correct, it’s honey made from mountainous wildflowers. No one was offering tastes of the raw truffles, but we tasted and bought salumi with truffles. We also bought gorgeous chanterelle mushroom, and of course truffles; white and black.
We spent most of the day wandering the streets of Alba, tasting as we meandered, and eventually we found ourselves in the wine area. Here the vintners were offering tastes of their local wines, poured into small plastic cups. We tasted and bought a really good sparkling Arneis, for about 5 euros per bottle. We also tasted and purchased several Langhe Nebbiolos to carry home to our cellar.
When we got to Signore Cerrino’s table, he poured us tastes of his Dolcetto, Barbera, and Nebbiolo. Signore Cerrrino only spoke Italian and French, and although I’m really only fluent in English, we still managed to communicate using plenty of hand gestures, and the assistance of an occasional passerby. I wanted to buy two bottles of his Barbera and one of his Nebbiolo, but he wanted me to buy one each of the Dolcetto, Barbera, and Nebbiolo, because as he told me, “It’s Dolcetto in the morning, Barbera in the afternoon, and Nebbiolo at night”.
He meant of course, that Italians make Dolcetto to drink immediately, while waiting for the Barbera to age a few years; then they drink the Barbera while waiting for the Nebbiolo to be ready.
I eventually acquiesced to him and bought one of each before heading off to the grappa tables. We tried several, but decided grappa must be an acquired taste. The flavored grappas, however, were more to our liking; we bought a small bottle of cherry flavored grappa, Antica Grappa Ciliegia, before heading back to the farmhouse. That night as we ate the veal scallopini, mushroom and truffle risotto, and salad we prepared, we toasted Signore Cerrino with his very delicious Dolcetto. As one couple did the dishes, the cooks sipped our cherry grappa and celebrated la dolce vita — the sweet life!
Thanks to Niki for allowing us to live vicariously!
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