Barbera Festivals aren't new to us but this was our first time in Nizza Monferrato. A very well planned event with lots of new labels of Barbera for us to try and no surprise that we found some new favorites.

The tasting was of Barbera made in and nearby Nizza Monferrato. A great way to taste many new wines or current vintages for a small entrance fee of 5 euros that includes the glass. We met up with our friend, Adrian, who lives nearby and had a fun day of tasting. The festival was throughout the city with many food vendors, specialty products and lots of live music on almost every corner. We have already marked our calendar for next year!

Tags: Barbera, Nizza

Just across the piazza and down the street from us is Longoria, yet another winery with in crawling distance from our home.

We hade a wonderful time meeting Carlo, along with his wife. who showed us around the property.

The wines all showed well but it was a bit to cold in the tasting room, as a result, the reds were a little closed so we all
decided to come back when the weather warms up. Since we are neighbors, no problem to stop back later in spring!

Gabrielle............ working on winter pruning, he's 84 and still works 6 days a week.

The new clone of Barbera (cross between Barbera and a palm tree) is showing up in a few vineyards here in
the Langhe, expect tropical fruit on the nose!

We just had our second snow this winter and its almost all gone . Snow melt patterns were used here hundreds of years ago to
find the warmest microclimates on a given hillside. This area is saved for producers top Nebbiolo, usually their Barbaresco or
Barolo. Above is the sweet spot in Cru Montersino.

Just to the east of Barbaresco, all the prime spots are snow free. In the foreground is Cru Gallina, one of the top vineyards
in the Neive sub-zone of the barbaresco region. In the distance to the right of the tower of Barbaresco is Cru Montefico
one of our personal favorites in the Barbaresco sub-zone in the Barbaresco region (wow doesn’t that roll off the tongue nicely)

Stumbled across this chart in USA Today. We find this a funny because pasta is never a main course. Here in Langhe,
pasta is served as a primi (starter course) and always a small amount hmm... must be because pasta is eaten every day
as a primi for lunch and dinner.

After a very dry winter so far, we awoke to 12 +” of snow Sunday morning. Local kids were using the street next to our
house as a sliding hil,l good thing it’s a one way coming down

Growing up in Minnesota we are used to seeing lots of snow removal equipment, however, after 3 years here
we have never seen a city/county snow plow. All the streets are cleared by local growers (farmers) with there
own tractors, theses guy’s do a great job. Above is Giulio from Fattoria San Giuliano, a winery just down the
street from us.

Snow can be a big pain in the butt in hilltop towns with narrow streets with nowhere to put all the snow.
However, snow is very good for the grapevines. With all the hills here in the Langhe, rain turns into run off
very quickly whereas snow melts slowly allowing it to seep into the soil slowly.

When we first moved to “cru Montersino” just outside of Treiso, we were very
curious as to why there were hazelnut trees and not vines in a small section of
the cru. To us, this spot seemed like a great place for nebbiolo, which grown here
would qualify it to be labeled as Barbaresco.

After 18 months of wondering, in March of 2009 we woke up to chainsaws
cutting down the hazelnut trees. We can finally see are home from the road

Striped clean we soon learned after talking to the locals that Cru Montersino in
the Barbaresco zone was about to get a little larger. A long and very costly
project, only to be done by someone with lots of patience. In this case the
winery of Orlando Abrigo from Treiso

The first big step is digging up all the old tree roots. It is incredible the
investment that goes into such a project, keeping in mind the first bottle of
wine is at least 5 to 6 years away. Normally the first vintage or two is usually
released as Nebbiolo d’Alba, that means the first bottle of Barbaresco can
be up to 8 years away or longer after starting this project

Irrigation is not allowed in Italy therefor the next step is digging hundreds
of feet of trenching used for distributing and removing rain water

We lost count at 15 of how many of these rigid pipes were installed along
With cement distributing boxes

The trenches were from 4 to 8 feet deep (very OSHA approved working conditions)

After the trenching gravel was used for back filling. It appears fiat makes just
about everything one would need in Italy

After back filling the soil was turned over followed by final grading

Now the fun starts using GPS guided lasers to achieve the best positioning
for the vines. Strings are staked out to form the vineyard’s final layout for
the hundreds of poles needed to support the training wires.

The poles are pushed in to the ground one at a time, a very slow and tedious Job.
although
After 7 months it is starting to look like a vineyard, although one without vines
and row end posts yet

The first of some 3,000+ vines of nebbiolo is planted.

After planting, all that is exposed is a few inches of wax covered vine

Now that the trees have been replaced by a new vineyard, Cru Montersino
looks complete. We will let you all know when we try our first wine from this new vineyard.

Two years of Moscato in Barbaresco

Robert has been taking photo’s of the same Moscato Grapevine
every two weeks for 3 years at our old place in Treiso. He’s now
going to find a Nebbiolo vine near our new home in Neive
If you want to see a bigger version click here

It’s the time of the year when the growers are thankful for the lack of snow, which can make winter pruning a
lot more difficult, with temps in the high 30’s to low 40’s, one would think gloves and an heavier jacket would be needed.

This is very labor intensive work, always done by hand, after pruning, a game of tug-o-war is “played to remove
all the vine material then it is laid in the center of the rows to be mulched up by tractors.

Meanwhile, back at the cantina, winter means time to rack wine. This means transfering all the wine in barrels to large s.s. tanks
then taking the barrels outside for steam cleaning after which the barrel stacks are rebuilt and refilled with wine, not bad
work on a sunny day here at the Fontanabianca winery in Neive. A great view of our new town in the background, Neive alto.

However this work can be miserable when your cold and wet and without any sunshine to warm you up.

If you are a shop keeper rather than a winemaker, you just close up shop for a few weeks and go south
to warm up. We have turned into weather wimps, back in Minnesota we would be very hapy with lows
of 30 and high’s in the 40’s, but now we are freezing in these temperatures and all bundled up like it
minus 20 F.

On a quest to find more good Alta Langa Sparkling wines we recently visited Bera in Neviglie.
We tried all the wines that were available and we’re very happy with what we found.
They have a full line of wines all done very well.
The Bera Brut Alta Langa was one of the best Alta Langa Spumante we have tried so far. It is a good representation of the Alta Langa DOC.
Made with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes grown above 400 meters to meet the requirements of the DOC along with being made “metodo classico” (meaning made like Champagne with a second fermentation in the bottle)
The wine was crisp, yeasty, toasty bread notes and the perfect dryness for our tastes.

The red wines were all of good quality consisting of Dolcetto, La Lena Barbera d’Alba, Langhe Nebbiolo, Sassito Langhe Rosso and
Barbaresco. Our favorite red was the Sassito Langhe Rosso, made from a blend of 70% Barbera, 20% Nebbiolo and 10% Merlot with 4 years aging, two of them being in wood. Tasty!

Lastly, we finished the tasting with a Moscato Passito “Nuovo Messagio”. We don’t drink a lot of Passito but this one really hit the spot.
Rich and spicy, not at all syrupy or cloying. We were tempted to drink the whole bottle!

Some tastings turn into a “ drinking”, a good thing when the wine shows well as they did at a recent
tasting at the Rapalino winery in the village of Nevigle. Claudio Rapalino (shown) along with his
brother Marco, who are continuing the family tradition started by his father and grandfather.

As we’ve spoke of before there is a festival every week in many towns all over Italy.
Our town had a culinary fair showing off the famous local dishes, above is Bagna Cauda
made from anchovies, garlic and olive oil. Served as a hot sauce fondu style that you dip
raw meat and or vegetables into.

A hands on demo on making Tajarin as Tagliatelle is called locally. They are discussing
whether to use 35 or 40 egg yolks per kilo of flour ( no joking ) in this very rich hand cut
thin pasta.

Yes it’s true the farther you get from Barbaresco and the closer one gets to Dolcetto di Dogliani
( the home of great Dolcetto) the more often you run in to a producer doing interesting things
with dolcetto such as the above photo of Dolcetto going through it’s Malolactic fermentation in an
french oak barrel (BARRIQUE) We’ve often felt most Dolcettos could use a little oak even though
we could get shot for thinking such lunecy here in Barbaresco


Last of the fall color on a rare clear day the whearher this fall has been very cloudy/rainy/drizly


So what better thing to do but go to a pary for a newly remodled and enlarged winery at Adriano


when your perents own a winery, one learns to pour wine like a pro before you finish grade school

OK it’s not really a wine bar but it’s the BOFFA winery in “downtown” Barbaresco
who has an outdoor patio where you can purchase a glass of their wine to enjoy
the sunset with a view of Mt.Viso.

Fantastic view of the Roero wine region across the Tanaro River just below the patio

Cotta is a big fan also, maybe because of all the salami treats she can nab

Over looking the last of Nebbiolo being harvested in Cru Montersino, just south of Trieso,
near the southern end of the Barbaresco region

Taking a couple of visitors to a tasting at CA’ ROME we think we’ve now seen the coolest
tasting room in all of Langhe. The wines are great too which we’ve known for a long time
but had never seen the cellar, only driven by about 200 times over the years. We had no
idea what we were missing.

Nebbiolo starting the long journy to become Barbaresco. This Nebbiolo is from Cru Cotta
from the Neive sub zone of the Barbaresco region and is under going one of it’s 4 to 5
daily pump overs.

With a recent group of visiting wine lovers we spent the day exploring Monforte d’Alba.
We started the day with a visit to Podere Rocche dei Manzoni winery (some times winery names
can be a bit to long) we’ve wanted to see the winery since their recent completion of a new
aging cellar.

It’s not all fun and games in wine country, we earned our lunch
by hiking through a dolcetto vineyard with a long climb to our
picnic spot.

Enjoying lunch in Monforte before touring Conterno Fantino
a very beautiful winery with great wines, they even make a chardonnay that Robert will drink.

Harvest has started, first the whites Moscato, Arneis, Chardonnay, then in a few
weeks the reds, Dolcetto, Barbera followed by the king of grapes Nebbiolo.
Davide (on left) winemaker/owner of the Vigin winery gets some help from Teresio
loading Moscato grapes from his Canta vineyard just outside Treiso.

Robert chats with Davide’s father Lorenzo about this years harvest who is happy
with both the weather and the grapes. It’s early but so far 2010 looks good.

We were in Asti a few days ago and our usual parking spot was being covered with
dirt for the upcoming horse races called “Palio di Asti” a very big event.

The entire town is decorated with flags and banners.

Now that summer is coming to an end, so is the “trimming the vines season”
Next up is harvest.

Living in a part of the world where the internet has not taking over we've learned
the best way to find out what is going on is to head to our local caffe (coffee shop)
and read the flyers posted on the bar front.They are very accurate and always up to date.

Cotta’s first visit to a Michelin starred restaurant Antine, she was a perfect
quest, she even got a tour of the kitchen where she showed off her
new “bang bang” trick to chef/owner Andrea Marino

Helping out the neighbors (Vigin) in there moscatto vineyard. This is a very
old vineyard with narrow rows, with out enough space for a tractor to pass
for trimming the vines so this work must be done by hand.

This photo of our court yard shows the crazy weather we can have here in
Langhe surrounded by black clouds with a spot of sun in the center.

Summer should be called tractor season they go non stop 7 day a week
sun up to sun down this one spraying for powdery mildew in the valle grande
vineyard just out side Treiso.

Some times spraying is done by helicopter, trust me that black spot in the
clouds is a helicopter Robert will gladly except an old Telephoto lens for
his new digital rebel (good luck whit that)

Last week took a road trip to England to help a friend move some wine back
to Italy. We found in a bit strange after 650 miles through France saw no vineyards
but spotted this sign so we must have been close to Champagne.

Robert was in foodie heaven in the country only few hours and scored
some great Thai soup and ......lots of curry!

fantastic curry the national dish of England

And not to be forgotten the former dish of England fish and chips with
mushy peas.

Now here is something you don’t see in the states , at a recent town
festival the grade school was selling wine as a fund raiser.

yet another wine tasting this new event called N1 “nebbiolo-prima”
is mainly for wine writers, bloggers and buyers These producers look
like they will be glad to get home this evening, they must do alot events can
be very time consuming and hard on the feet.

Chiaro with our friend and fellow blogger, Darryl go over there tasting notes

Getting ready for the first of three blind Barbaresco tastings
24 Tonight. Last Friday was the start of the annual “iL Barbaresco A Tavola”

The British are coming! No it’s just our expat (friends) mate’s joining us for our weekly
english lessons (a few more years of this and we will be unable to speak American
at all).

When trying the new Barbaresco’s it is customary to taste through the wines two at a time, however
it will take’s us 4 1/2 hours to work our way through all 24 wines and the 7 course dinner.

Bud break is here. Soon all the vineyards will be crawling with workers
Trying to stay ahead of the vines.

We found a new spot for good food and music (yes Richard its jazz)
in the village of Barolo its name is Rosso Barolo They have a very
cool jazz bar downstairs

The wine program and wine list is top notch

Despite the advantages that GPS has endowed us with, it doesn’t always work. On a recent fact-finding mission to Gavi (and Tortona) we had a 10am appointment with www.morgassisuperiore.it so we put the address into TomTom and set off with plenty of time to spare. At 9.45am with just 4km to go, according to TomTom, we found ourselves on a snow covered icy track at the top of a hill with sheer drops either side. Not unusual in this part of the world where tracks through vineyards are sometimes considered major thoroughfares. We telephoned, apologised made a nervous 10 point turn and 30 minutes later were sampling the considerable delights of Timorasso and Cortese in the form of Gavi and a Gavi Superiore. Here were white wines with a complexity and length that is hard to find in Italy and that would benefit from some ageing. A desert wine, La Cortesia, was delightfully delicate and could serve as an aperitif, compliment foie gras and most deserts.

An excellent “workers’ lunch” in a cellar restaurant in Gavi set us up for the afternoon tastings. First was at http://www.lacolomberavini.it/ where we were again delighted by the Timorasso: Il Montino 2006 a first time 3 bicchiere Gambero Rosso award winner. A whole bunch of varietals were sampled including: Nibiò, Barbera, Croatina, Bonarda each with their own individual characteristics and some, along with a Cortese and Rosato, available “sfuso” (bring your own bottles!). Elisa and Piercarlo are excellent hosts and a favourite of David Berry at www.bbr.com.

Last but not least, we spent 2 1/2 hours in the delightful company of www.claudiomariotto.it/. Claudio is a passionate exponent of Timorasso and believes that it is exceptional and deserves a reputation ahead of Gavi. Hard to dispute in our opinion and the range of vintages opened proved that this wine can definitely improve with age. His Pitasso 2004, 2005 and 2006 all won 3 bicchiere. The reds were pretty decent too. The tasting was turning into a party as his brother Mauro and various colleagues turned up for a glass and cheese toasted on the stove but it was dark and snowing heavily and the driver was getting twitchy so we bade our farewells.

Wine makers are getting ready for a lot more work during the labeling
process, in the past the control tag (fascetta) was only required for D.O.C.G.
wines about 15 to 20% of their production. New laws in 2010 mean almost
all of their wines will need the control label.

Small producers who did this one at a time by hand in the past are
now looking for machines to do this tedious work.

However these machines don’t always get it right.

This is the closest thing to coffee to go in Italy, gotta love it!

Living next to many different winemakers gives us the
opportunity to try their experiments, we’ve been drinking
our way through 100 liters of a Nebbiolo and Sav. Blanc
Rose blend made by our friend Enzo from La Ganghija.
Luckily for us Enzo didn’t care for the wine but we love it
and are happy to drink our way through it 2 liters at a time.

The other night at the neighbors we drank an 2003
Cortese it was fantastic not fresh and crisp the usual
descriptors used for this varietal but mellow and creamy
with tons of carmel

We did some scouting this weekend for our spring trips to the Franciacorta
wine region,which is about 3 hoursnorth east of Barbaresco.
Was fun but way too cold.

Our first snow arrived on the 17th of December, only 2 inches but enough for a
white Christmas.The garage is packed full with fire wood so Robert parks under
the bedroom balcony to maintain his recored of never scraping the car here in the
Langhe. He does not miss that old MN sport of scraping and shoveling snow.

Testing out the new stuffa, made it to 93 F

Treiso covered in snow.

A couple of weeks ago we went to a giant Barbera
wine tasting that was a great way to compare many different
producers using only one varietal.

There were 4 tables each with about 75 wines to pick from, almost 300 wines in total.

Chiaro and our friend Richard talking a break from some very hard work!

Cotta choosing our next wine to try.

The fall colors this year is the best we've seen yet !
Another great tasting/winery tour with our expat friends at RESSIA
A very passionate wine maker Fabrizio

Fabrizio Ressia's line up of wines.

A must try and very interesting Dry Moscato this will be our aperitivo
wine next summer and our spicy food wine this winter.

Carlo (Darryl) Warning Chiaro to stop finding new producers who make great wine.
This is starting to get expensive !

This weekend was the annual "Barbaresco Week-End" wine tasting held in the
Barbaresco city hall. Chiaro with our expat friends Andrea and Lesley as we "work"
are way through 51 2006 Barbaresco's, La Ca Nova winery was the favorite
of the day. We exempt our usual favorites from judging Sottimano, Moccagatta,
Ca del Baio, Vigin, La Ganghija etc.

Everything is a family event in Italy, good training for Oliver

The quote of the day go's to Carlo a.k.a. Darryl " A nothing nose
with a hint of what i don't like"

The last pressing of 2009 at Vigin ( Cru Cotta ) this pomace is off to the
distillery to be made into Grappa (rocket fuel )

Chiaro celebrating her 40th at her friend Chiara's 50th surprise birthday party at
La Ciau del Tornavento (way to go Bob). Yes that is a freshly sciabolaed
bottle of Cristal however we still prefer Bille.

birthday(week): wine at the Piacere Barbaresco tasting with our friend and
Treiso neighbor, Andrea. The tasting was a hit, they decorated the elementary
school gym like a vineyard.

A new event this year at the tasting was a hit. The 9 glasses in the background
had extracts of veris wine smells for to to try identifying, if you got all 9 correct
you win a bottle of Barbarecso

Zero tolerance in ITALY (NOT) you have to love a country that has a huge
wine tasting in their elementary school caffeteria along with a temp wine shop
in the front office. The tasting lasted through monday so, no school !!

Showing off a few of our favorite wineries to some recent visitors,
shown here is moccagatta. After this tasting we went to visit a winery
very close to our home, after driving by it for 2 years let's check it out .....

We soon realized what we were missing. We've had a few of their
wines over the years and always liked them but had never tasted through
their full line wow! The nose on the pinot noir smelled just like a Willamette
Valley pinot noir and tasted great. They also make some very unique whites.
we are going to be learning more about Poderi Colla

At dinner this past weekend we asked for some salt. Great idea and
presentation very cool! (salt and pepper is rarely seen on tables here in
Piemonte)

Spring has quickly turned into summer, the vines are growing very fast
and are in constant need of training and leaf pulling.

Even Robert, he's helpping the neighbors Vigin in their nebbiolo vineyard
"Cru Montersino" next to our home (in the back ground)

O.S.H.A. would have a field day here, however nobody seems to get hurt.

We spotted imported wine for the first time at the big super market in
Alba but nothing worth buying, bummer we miss Oregon Pinot noir

Jazz is very popular here in Alba it's as if we've moved to Chicago except the
shows here are usually free, always outdoors and wine is everywhere.

If we don't show up at a tasting with puppy cotta we are not let in.

Cotta greeting her friend Nicola who organized today's tasting of barolo's
(2005) from the sub region La Morra. Below are a few standouts from todays
tasting (no special order)

AURELIO SETTIMO

I BASTIONI

STROPPIANA

There was only 720 bottles of IL LAURO made. Very strong
eucalyptus in the nose was catnip for Robert.

SAN BIAGIO also makes a Cru Barbaresco from Montersino
the vineyard our home is in, we're exited to try this wine soon.

On via Maestra, the main shopping street in Alba, a new wine bar opened last
week called GOLD, very upscale and flashy. (look for a full review in the future at
our Alba Wine Bar page) Times must be good ?

Wow the first P.O.S. system we've seen in a bar in the area, the next thing you
know they'll be getting that internet thing.

Ever thing you need to know about gold is on the back wall

However on the other side of Alba we saw this sign

Times must be bad ?

we went to a Barbaresco tasting this past monday comparing
the 2005 and the 1999 vintage's of 20 or so different producers
all showed well but as to be expected the 99's were very charming.
some of our favorites below (no special order)

Summer is here so is the start of endless wine festivals.
Our first one this season was great, 3 euros gets you a glass and
there was lots of Barbera to try.


Taking a break from tasting Chiaro shows a producer her art work.
He invited us to tour his cantina later in the week.


The side streets are filled with venders selling cheese, art and even tractors.

10:00 in the morning and Chiaro has to wait in line for a taste of Barbera.

Outdoor dining has returned

Vineyard workers burning brush between the road and vine row's

Trimming the hazelnut grove's for next winter's fire wood

This past monday we stopped by the Nada Giuseppe Winery to watch
them bottle their rosé. The equipment is a little more specialized ( for rosé )
so they are using a mobile bottling machine. All of their other wines are
bottled in the winery.

This self contained bottler is delivered by a flat bed truck, then setup on the ground.

Barbara loading bottles with Valle Grande vineyards in the background

Nella and Giuseppe along with there grandson filling cages that are moved into
the winery for labeling at a later date.

Rosé from 100% Nebbiolo, just in time for spring!

Tags: wine

We first met Giuseppe last fall at Eataly in Torino. He was pouring his
white wines, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, in the wine shop for
the customers to taste. We liked both of the Whites alot and bought some
that day. Last Friday, we finally made it to the winery and got to taste
all the wines and see the cellar. The winery has been in the family
for many generations and is today run by Giuseppe and his family.

We first tried some tried some young Barbera d'Asti right from the Botte
then finished our tasting upstairs where it was warmer.

Giuseppe's wines are a great example of a gem of winery, along with it's vineyards,
situated outside of the well known zones of Barbaresco and Barolo.
He pours alot of energy and unique ideas into varietals like
Barbera, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvingnon and Chardonnay.
We have found that wineries outside of the Langhe,
when they get it right, like here at Sciorio, the wines are a
tremendous value for the quality. We enjoyed all the wines, but
especially liked the Barbera d'Asti and the Monferrato Rosso(Syrah).
Sciorio does a private label for a restaurant in Portland, OR called
Alba Osteria & Enoteca. A place we are sure to check out next time we are
in Portland. Giuseppe said the food is very authentic Piemontese
which is a rare find in the US.

The cellar is very beautiful and will definitely be on Leslie's list to paint

What's an Aperitivo? Here in Piemonte the word becomes a verb meaning
let's meet for a drink. There are some noticeable differences from the American
version.
In Italy it is always at a bar/cafe; these terms are interchangeable, hours are
from about 5:30 to 8:00(so you have time to get home for dinner, they eat
late here).
The drink of choice is usually wine, here in Alba bubbles are very
popular; Champagne, Franciacorta, Prosecco or local sparkling wine.
Food is always served with your drink order and is always
included in the price.
The food is bite sized snacks whose quality can vary
that you eat with a toothpick or your fingers.
Very trendy bars will sometimes offer their snacks buffet style on the counter.
Here are some examples of the snacks "stuzzichini":

Tags: wine bars

What can be more interesting than trying new bubbles
from off the radar wine regions.
Recently we tried a wine from Bulgaria.

Edoardo Miroglio
Brut Rose
Metodo Classico 2006

It appears to be vintage, the label says 2006, but we are not
clear on Bulgarian wine laws.
It was disgorged in September 2008.

We poured some and gave it a try. Light salmon in color with a fine bead
of bubbles. Looks promising. We try a taste. Very dry and crisp with
lots of cherries and fresh cranberries. Balanced with a nice yeast component.
Fairly strong enjoyable yeasty finish. We approve.

A few days later we tried their rose made from Pinot Noir even though
it was a 2005 still showed lot of fruit. Makes us want to try a current vintage.

Tags: wine

You sure can't judge a wine bar by it's door. We have been walking
by this place for years and finally gave it a try, once inside we found the
perfect definition of a vineria (think wine bar mixed with coffee shop,
neither of which exists separately in Italy). The place is great and the staff very
friendly, it's called Casa della Torre. It is located on a side street off the
main walking street in Alba. From this lesson we have decided to give
the other wine bars we've been walking by a chance and do little "mini" reviews
on all the wine bars in Alba(This could take awhile, there are ALOT of wine bars).

A back bar to be proud of with great stemware along with very serious
coffee. By definition a vineria is not a restaurant, however you wont go
hungry.

With every glass of wine you get a fancy plate of snacks, always delicious
but varies day to day, hour to hour. The wine by the glass is unusual too,
most vinerias in the area only serve local wine, but this place always has some wine
from someplace else, like Chile, Spain or other regions in Italy.
This is great because we go a little crazy drinking barbera and nebbbiolo
everyday, even though we love it. It also has ample choices for "bollicine" bubbles.
Bubbles are the most popular aperitivo in Piedmont wine bars. You don't see
very much Prosecco but alot of Franciacorta, Champagne and of course, locally
produced bubbles which most are quite good.

Tags: wine bars

Nearing the end of our 2nd harvest. I finally get the joke producers (wine makers)
tell about why vegetarians shouldn't drink wine.

This nebbiolo is getting a little extra air during it's pump over.

Tags: Barbaresco,wine

Veraison (grape ripening) has begun in the vineyard behind our home, harvest will be here soon


Very happy to hack our iphone !!! works great wow email at home what a great idea
( Wine - Mustella)

Tags: vineyard