Sunday, March 21, 2010

International Course on Piedmontese Wines

This week I left my boyfriend, dog and lavenderfarm alone for a few days to follow a very interesting course on Piedmontese wines at the Slow Food University (Università degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche) in Pollenzo.

I didn't make it through the selection, because this was a course for wine experts and people in the wine business, and well, ... you can say a lot about me but not that I know something about wines. But I thought it could be interesting as a lot of our guests want to visit wineries and come to this region, not only for its natural beauties, but also because of the great wines.


Sunday, when the course started, I heard about someone cancelling, packed my bags, and was just in time to enjoy the first diner of the course.

During this week I learned a lot about the history of Piedmontese wine-production, we tasted a lot of Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera, Moscato d'Asti ...


There were some interested visits to wineries in Dogliani, Barolo and Barbaresco.

It was a great week, with superb wines, interesting people ...


And I must say, I was very impressed how well this course was organised.

For me, it was a unique experience even if I'm not a real "wine person" and I hope my guests will also benefit from what I learned in this course.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Wine Course at the Slow Food University

I'm on holiday !

I have the unexpected opportunity to follow a free wine course at the Slow Food University in Pollenzo (1.5 hour drive from Agriturismo Verdita) and so I left Nicolas and the dog home and here I am now in the Albergo dell'Agenzia.

Yesterday we had a great meal with wines from La Spinetta, a langhe bianco (savignon blanc),barbera d'asti superiore, barbaresco, moscato d'asti. Producer Giorgio Rivetta from La Spinetta was here too. A very charming man and enthousiastic winemaker.

A good start for a wonderful week !