Monthly Archives: January 2011

Gianni Doglia

Gianni is an an excellent wine producer and with his good looks could have fronted a rock band although we didn’t ask him to sing. His wines certainly sing and are affordably priced. We were greeted by his bubbly sister Paola who is expecting a daughter in May and after a quick tour of the cantina which is in the process of renovation we settled ourselves in the comfortable tasting room. Wine is the family business and Gianni represents the latest generation. Castagnole delle Lanze is a stones throw away from Neive but is out of the Barbaresco zone; hence no Barbaresco nor nebbiolo.  (more…)

Ivan Rivetti with Boss

The extraordinary thing is we have known Ivan Rivetti for some time and have regularly shared a glass in our local wine bars. His nebbiolo (Barbaresco) vineyard almost overlooks our house but we hadn’t visited his cantina, which is less than 1km away as the crow flows, until last week.Pure carelessness!

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Last week I had the privilege of tasting the wines of another young, up-and-coming producer in Barbaresco, Paolo Veglio of Cascina Roccalini. Tucked away off the back road from Neive to Alba, the cantina afforded us a splendid view of Barbaresco from an angle we had not previously seen; for once the external scaffolding and lift attached to the historic tower were not visible. (more…)

The panettones are almost finished, the diary is (relatively) empty and the scales are creaking so the diet starts in earnest today. It has been a very enjoyable festive season but excess has been on the menu almost every day. The challenge now is to shed the kilos that have attached themselves to and camouflaged my athletic frame. (more…)

Many congratulations to the Rapalino and Sottimano familìes on the arrival of Edoardo Rapalino and Riccardo Sottimano who will hopefully help continue the tradition of excellence.

Fortunately the pre-Xmas snow has now cleared which means that the growers are thankfully able to get on with some winter pruning. Despite continuing overnight frosts, daytime temperatures are moving gently towards 5-10c and one would think that gloves and a heavy coat would still be needed. However this is very labour intensive work, always done by hand, and the hardy Piemontese folk make light of the weather. (more…)