I have a whole week (solo) staying in Monforte in mid-September (car hired from Turin)
I already have recommendations and contacts for winery visits.
Keen to know any "don't miss" restaurants, and any great non-wine things - lookouts, scenic drives, short (loop) walks, churches, architecture, gelati shops, wine shops with proper storage etc!
My first time in the area, help appreciated (and I don't speak Italian, but have weak French, weaker German).
Monforte - september
Re: Monforte - september
Cool!
Starting in Caselle (Torino) airport. As you exit the arrival hall, head 45 degrees to your right to get to the hire car desks (still inside the same building). They park the cars in the multistorey car park across the service road immediately outside the building, and when you drive out, you'll exit to the left. I like to use google streetview to work out which exit off this service road to take.
Offbeat suggestion. I love the unisex (arome e spezie) deodorants at Kelemata, and they have an outlet shop near the airport on the main road Centro Comm. Caselle Center, Str. Torino, 23, 10072 Caselle Torinese. It's pretty much 'en route' to the autostrada.
The Autostrada starts off ok, but can get busy around the 3 main Torino junctions, especially if around morning or evening rush hours, but once past the Southern outskirts, it's super-easy driving. I generally consider Italian drivers to be very skilled, but they hate being held up (and conversely try not to hold others up). Some manoeuvres such as creating a temporary imaginary central overtaking lane can be a shock to us, but Italian drivers in either direction merely hug the edge of the road to enable the impatient to pass. I'll also say 'trust the speed limits' when coming off the exit road of the autostrada. These exits usually come off parallel to the autostrada, but then as the speed limit drops sharply, typically bend very sharply to the left in order to pass under the main carriageways. If you've not braked as instructed, this can be a very dangerous turn.
When you arrive near Alba, there is one visually intimidating junction with a flyover, but again have a look on google streetview to plot your way through it, and this pre-knowledge should make it simple to navigate.
After that, there's a lovely straight road that bisects the Barolo villages, with Monforte turning on the left IIRC ~ 15 mins after that junction. Driving in and around Monforte is fine, but again I'd plan my route in advance.
Highlights in Monforte d'Alba?
- Le case delle Saracca is a really lovely historic wine bar / restaurant, and the first place I recall seeing with enomatic tasting machines. A good choice for aperitivo hour (c. 6.30-8pm) if they still have the super spread they used to put on
- Osteria la Salita was also good, and I recall Osteria dei Càtari also recommended, but we never made it there. Nothing bad from what we tried.
- Farmers market. It's tiny, IIRC just 4 stalls when we visited, but with very interesting stuff (i.e. a genuine farmer's market).
- Useful general store there, with a few good regional specialities.
- Quite a functional place for a Barolo village, which we rather liked.
- There's a super walk to Barolo, that includes a cooling woodland section near to Barolo. you'll walk past a few wineries and vineyards as well. The local tourist office has a super walking map for maybe €10-15
Wineries?
Although you're paying for the hire car, I always recommend trying to plan visits such that you can have some time off from driving and taste properly. Thus those wineries in walking distance of where you are staying would be my recommendation. So either:
- Have a day off from driving, by planning a single day where you'll walk between appointments OR
- Plan to drive in the mornings, then head back to your accommodation so you can walk to afternoon appointments.
Appointments almost universally required, though the wonderful tourist office (Langhe, Roero & Monferrato) introduced a booking service a decade or so back, so if that's still going, might ease the logistical pressure of emailing wineries (I don't mind this, as I can do so in Italian, which seems to guarantee a faster response). They also have a great listing, including saying which have English speakers in the family. Allow roughly 90 mins per appointment, plus travel time to the next one. Flow is often similar - following the path of winemaking, from crushers, to fermentation & ageing containers, and onto the bottle store and maybe labelling machine, ending with a tasting, where they usually provide salami, bread etc. (Piemontese hospitality). I've never encountered any pressure selling, and in the case of Renzo Accomasso, he had nothing left to sell anyway! In theory a long lunch used to be sacrosanct, so we've avoid bookings between 1-3.30pm, but some may be fine with this.
Other villages? I did like Serralunga, which doesn't have much there, but has a nice relaxed feel, and a rare interesting drop-in tasting room Sergio Giudice, a lovely old chap who I think got great enjoyment from sitting in his front room discussing wine, and selling it to those who dropped by. Just outside, we stayed in their apartments and were very pleasantly surprised by the wines of Franco Boasso (nicely traditional, and a super Barbera with age on it - and cheap as well). In a very different style, we also loved Schiavenza, a wonderfully hard working couple, both with a questing attitude, so I expect them to improve year on year.
Barolo is really rather touristy for me, but I'd still recommend it because of that walk, and it's good to stroll around anyway.
La Morra not as touristy as Barolo, but probably the next most of the villages. I liked it, and there's all sorts of different styles of Barolo made here and down the hill into annunziata. A tasting day here could very much hit the extremes of modernist, traditional and any place inbetween.
We didn't stay long in Castiglione Faletto, but it seemed ok. A few others besides these, mostly smaller affairs.
Other stuff? Alba is pretty charming, with lots of food and wine shops, plus very historic. Although it makes the place a little busier, I'd suggest going in on the market day, as it's a decent one. You might even be there when the piss-take palio is on (a series of donkey races aimed at mocking Asti's palio). It's noisy and can be hot in it's little stadium, but popular for sure.
always good to look for other events (sagre, mostre, feste etc.), as these are often good in Italy, and the smaller the better, as they are a great way to meet Italians, and a visitor from Australia might well be treated like an honoured guest, whereas at bigger events, you're just another tourist.
Hope this helps for starters, but fire any questions my way and I'll try to share insight I have.
Also attached, a neat little map of the Barolo vineyards. Better to plan walks using the walking map I mentioned, but this might help spark some ideas for walks (through the almost universally free to access vineyards - hurray for splintered ownership!)
Starting in Caselle (Torino) airport. As you exit the arrival hall, head 45 degrees to your right to get to the hire car desks (still inside the same building). They park the cars in the multistorey car park across the service road immediately outside the building, and when you drive out, you'll exit to the left. I like to use google streetview to work out which exit off this service road to take.
Offbeat suggestion. I love the unisex (arome e spezie) deodorants at Kelemata, and they have an outlet shop near the airport on the main road Centro Comm. Caselle Center, Str. Torino, 23, 10072 Caselle Torinese. It's pretty much 'en route' to the autostrada.
The Autostrada starts off ok, but can get busy around the 3 main Torino junctions, especially if around morning or evening rush hours, but once past the Southern outskirts, it's super-easy driving. I generally consider Italian drivers to be very skilled, but they hate being held up (and conversely try not to hold others up). Some manoeuvres such as creating a temporary imaginary central overtaking lane can be a shock to us, but Italian drivers in either direction merely hug the edge of the road to enable the impatient to pass. I'll also say 'trust the speed limits' when coming off the exit road of the autostrada. These exits usually come off parallel to the autostrada, but then as the speed limit drops sharply, typically bend very sharply to the left in order to pass under the main carriageways. If you've not braked as instructed, this can be a very dangerous turn.
When you arrive near Alba, there is one visually intimidating junction with a flyover, but again have a look on google streetview to plot your way through it, and this pre-knowledge should make it simple to navigate.
After that, there's a lovely straight road that bisects the Barolo villages, with Monforte turning on the left IIRC ~ 15 mins after that junction. Driving in and around Monforte is fine, but again I'd plan my route in advance.
Highlights in Monforte d'Alba?
- Le case delle Saracca is a really lovely historic wine bar / restaurant, and the first place I recall seeing with enomatic tasting machines. A good choice for aperitivo hour (c. 6.30-8pm) if they still have the super spread they used to put on
- Osteria la Salita was also good, and I recall Osteria dei Càtari also recommended, but we never made it there. Nothing bad from what we tried.
- Farmers market. It's tiny, IIRC just 4 stalls when we visited, but with very interesting stuff (i.e. a genuine farmer's market).
- Useful general store there, with a few good regional specialities.
- Quite a functional place for a Barolo village, which we rather liked.
- There's a super walk to Barolo, that includes a cooling woodland section near to Barolo. you'll walk past a few wineries and vineyards as well. The local tourist office has a super walking map for maybe €10-15
Wineries?
Although you're paying for the hire car, I always recommend trying to plan visits such that you can have some time off from driving and taste properly. Thus those wineries in walking distance of where you are staying would be my recommendation. So either:
- Have a day off from driving, by planning a single day where you'll walk between appointments OR
- Plan to drive in the mornings, then head back to your accommodation so you can walk to afternoon appointments.
Appointments almost universally required, though the wonderful tourist office (Langhe, Roero & Monferrato) introduced a booking service a decade or so back, so if that's still going, might ease the logistical pressure of emailing wineries (I don't mind this, as I can do so in Italian, which seems to guarantee a faster response). They also have a great listing, including saying which have English speakers in the family. Allow roughly 90 mins per appointment, plus travel time to the next one. Flow is often similar - following the path of winemaking, from crushers, to fermentation & ageing containers, and onto the bottle store and maybe labelling machine, ending with a tasting, where they usually provide salami, bread etc. (Piemontese hospitality). I've never encountered any pressure selling, and in the case of Renzo Accomasso, he had nothing left to sell anyway! In theory a long lunch used to be sacrosanct, so we've avoid bookings between 1-3.30pm, but some may be fine with this.
Other villages? I did like Serralunga, which doesn't have much there, but has a nice relaxed feel, and a rare interesting drop-in tasting room Sergio Giudice, a lovely old chap who I think got great enjoyment from sitting in his front room discussing wine, and selling it to those who dropped by. Just outside, we stayed in their apartments and were very pleasantly surprised by the wines of Franco Boasso (nicely traditional, and a super Barbera with age on it - and cheap as well). In a very different style, we also loved Schiavenza, a wonderfully hard working couple, both with a questing attitude, so I expect them to improve year on year.
Barolo is really rather touristy for me, but I'd still recommend it because of that walk, and it's good to stroll around anyway.
La Morra not as touristy as Barolo, but probably the next most of the villages. I liked it, and there's all sorts of different styles of Barolo made here and down the hill into annunziata. A tasting day here could very much hit the extremes of modernist, traditional and any place inbetween.
We didn't stay long in Castiglione Faletto, but it seemed ok. A few others besides these, mostly smaller affairs.
Other stuff? Alba is pretty charming, with lots of food and wine shops, plus very historic. Although it makes the place a little busier, I'd suggest going in on the market day, as it's a decent one. You might even be there when the piss-take palio is on (a series of donkey races aimed at mocking Asti's palio). It's noisy and can be hot in it's little stadium, but popular for sure.
always good to look for other events (sagre, mostre, feste etc.), as these are often good in Italy, and the smaller the better, as they are a great way to meet Italians, and a visitor from Australia might well be treated like an honoured guest, whereas at bigger events, you're just another tourist.
Hope this helps for starters, but fire any questions my way and I'll try to share insight I have.
Also attached, a neat little map of the Barolo vineyards. Better to plan walks using the walking map I mentioned, but this might help spark some ideas for walks (through the almost universally free to access vineyards - hurray for splintered ownership!)
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