Monthly Archives: November 2010

The tasting room from below

One of the joys of living in Neive is that all our neighbours produce the most wonderful wine.

The view from Rapalino towards Neive and la casa nostra

A few days ago we introduced ourselves to yet another within 10 minutes from our house and next door to Sarotto.

It probably seems that we only ever seem to have positive things to say about our local wine but that is not surprising as we tend to visit only those producers whose wine we have already sampled at local restaurants, bars or at organised tastings.Claudio Rapalino is just such an example and if he produced bubbles (bollecine) you could do all your shopping in Ronconuovo, Neviglie. His lovely wife and commercial director, Lorenzo Pirra completed the welcoming committee. Claudio speaks very clear and understandable Italian unlike Lorenzo with whom he  only speaks Piemontese. He admitted that he can’t speak Italian with him and look him in the eye  without laughing.
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Like other rivers that form a barrier between communities, the Tanaro separates Barbaresco from the Roero and sometimes we, on “the posh side”, sometimes overlook our neighbour’s wine. Last week we ventured across the Tanaro and visited Canale  and two of Roero’s finest, Malvirà and Deltetto. (more…)

Before I moved to Piedmont I had always  associated Uncle Bulgaria with the Wombles of Wimbledon Common, then I met Edoardo Miroglio. In addition to his Tenuta Carretta in Alba he has built the most extraordinary winery on 1,200 hectares deep in the heart of Bulgaria. It boasts 16 different grape varieties and currently produces 500,000 bottles of award winning wines. From a distance it looks like a fortress and reaching it almost demands a military operation: a 2 hour flight from Milano to Sofia and then a 3 hour journey by road. In our case a hair raising drive in thick fog but the hotel and the nerve soothing glass of bollicine (bubbles) awaiting us was worth the effort. For those of you that would dismiss Bulgarian wine without so much as a sip, think again. (more…)

After another  relatively average tasting at La Morrra on Saturday I left not realising that I had missed one of the stands. Not surprising, as it was a Bank Holiday weekend and the weather was lousy and consequently it was jam-packed.

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