Barbaresco

The town of Barbaresco lies northeast of Alba in Piemonte. This is the heart of the Barbaresco wine production, boasting more than half the registered vineyards for its namesake wine and most of its best vineyards (Asili, Rabaja, Roncaglie, Martinenga...)

The villages is very well preserved, with its castle and medieval watch tower on the top of a cliff above the Tanaro river.

In a former church you find the Enoteca Regionale del Barbaresco. It sells nearly al of the appellation's labels.

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.

Bomba di riso

Today I made a bomba di riso, ... why they call it a bomb?

Well, I think I understand now after eating it: the amount of cheese in it make it, well, very very heavy.

But it's delicious, and that's what food is all about in my opinion. Sorry, no counting calories for me.

Piedmont, wine region

A lot of peolple think Tuscany when they think of Italian wine, but Piedmont is also famous for his quality wines. The Piedmont Wine Region, particularly in the Langhe sub region, is a land of castles, vineyards and romantic hills .

In fact, the region attracts gourmet travellers from all over the world who go there to simply eat and enjoy fine wine and it's no wonder that the Slow Foor Movement is very strong in Piedmont, a region where people celebrate their wine and gastronomy every time they can.

Pictures of enoteca's (wine stores / restaurants) where you can taste a variety of Italian wines :

50 acres

50 acres of pure nature, that is all ours now.
Fields, trees and even a little vineyard.

First visit

We saw our house for the first time in july 2007 and fell immediately in love with it. Especially the views are spectacular: Mount Beigua, the Bormida valley, a little medieval tower, a church, 'calanche' (a protected nature phenomen, these are grey and naked hills that look like slate), ...