Cooking & Wine Lover Tour in Piedmont's Barolo Wine Country
Highlight
Discover the Barolo & Barbaresco wine country through getting to know a long list of warm local people and strolling in hill towns. Learn to cook local dishes in 3 cooking lessons. Drink red wines in private winery visits.
Minimum Duration
6 days
Maximum Duration
6 days
Price Range
$2085 - $2805 (EUR)
Season
January - December
Starting Point / Finishing Point
Turin / Turin
Itinerary
Sunday
Starting off your cooking, wine and walking extravaganza, meet your group at Turin airport or railway station before departing for the town of Verduno or Barolo about 12 miles away. Your accommodation in Verduno will be in a stately, yet down to earth hotel that was once the summer home of Italian King Carlo Alberto in the 1840s. In town of Barolo we stay at a pretty, family-run hotel in the town with lovely views of Barolo castle and vineyards.
After settling in, dine with the rest of your group in a typical restaurant, drinking great local wines like Barbera and eating authentic Piedmont specialties.
Monday
Explore the La Morra area and as you drive along its winding country roads, you’ll have a spectacular view of the verdant Barolo wine valley below. From La Morra take a leisurely walk along pathways through vineyards down to the Ratti family winery.
Housed in the Abbey of the Annunziata, the family's private wine museum dates back to 1162 when monks began making wine there. Massimo, the winery’s effervescent owner (also a local celebrity!) will give you a fascinating, entertaining personal tour about the soils, grapes, barrels, wine making in the old days. As you taste the fine Ratti wines, he'll teach you how to appreciate Barolo wine with its unique flavor characteristics. Wine connoisseurs always rave about this experience with Massimo (or a member of his family) as a good introduction to the area's wines.
Lunch today is at a restaurant in the town of Santa Vittoria d’Alba made famous by the film “The Secret of Santa Vittoria”. As you sip a bottle of local wine and savor local dishes made from farm fresh ingredients, you'll look over rolling vistas of vineyards and hills, so typical of Piemonte wine country.
In the early evening, return to Real Castello for your early evening cooking lesson. Make typical Piemonte dishes like onion tart, risotto with Barolo and guinea hen with rosemary as well as local desserts like bunet, a cocoa pudding with crushed amaretti biscuits cooked in caramelized moulds.
Before enjoying these delicious creations for dinner, visit the Real Castello wine cellars, where your host will take happily tour you through cellars and give you tastings of their acclaimed wines like Nebbiolo and Pelaverga, which resembles a spicy Barolo.
Congratulate yourselves on your fine cooking and as you savor many courses in your delicate, outstanding dinner, each paired with great Piedmont wines, you'll understand why the Real Castello's restaurant is internationally famous for its cuisine.
Tuesday
Today drive to the scenic Barbaresco wine country hills and visit the famous Marchesi di Gresy winery that produces a wide range of acclaimed red and white wines including one of the best Barbaresco wines.
From this state of the art winery, travel high up into beautiful mountains into lush, green hills covered in forests and nut trees. Here in a little town, as you enter a well known bakery, you’ll feel swept away with the perfume of chocolate. In a three hour demonstration lesson in the bakery kitchen, the artisan baker owner will divulge his secrets to making his famous chocolate cakes like sachertorte and hazelnut cake.
With your sweet tooth well satisfied, we drive down to a small, family farm nearby where we meet a man passionate about making his sheep cheeses in a totally natural way. You’ll meet the sheep and learn how he makes his cheeses in the cheese making room. In a divine picnic with him, you’ll sample a range of his cheeses as he eagerly tells you all you’d ever want to know.
We wind our way through these peaceful higher hills and back down into the wine country. Dinner this evening will be in a typical restaurant full of local people in a little town in the hills.
Wednesday
This morning you'll get a warm welcome at another Barolo winery such as Rocche Castamagno in La Morra. Taste their fine range of wines and chat and laugh with their sommelier as you deepen your knowledge of Barolo wines. Weather permitting, you’ll also walk through their vineyards and learn about how their vines are grown.
Before lunch you'll have time to stroll around this pretty hill town, and perhaps stop at the municipal wine store, one of the best for its Barolo selection and personal service.
We drive to a café in the hill town of Castiglione Falletto where, weather permitting, we lounge on a scenic outdoor patio al fresco, and enjoy some light local appetizers or salads with a cool glass of white wine in hand.
We then travel to the hillside town of Serralunga to visit a unique, magical medieval castle, renovated in 1340. With the castle's entertaining guide, you'll discover ingenious architectural features that kept invaders out and what life was like for soldiers living in the spartan conditions. Up on the top floor, you'll marvel at the 360 degree views of the medieval town walls and the green vine covered hills all around you.
For dinner we’ll dine in a typical restaurant on more delicate Piedmontese fare.
Thursday
We drive to the hill town of Grinzane Cavour to visit its imposing castle dating back to about 1000, formerly home to Count Cavour, Italy’s first prime minister in 1852. Admire wide panoramas or visit its interesting wine museum and wine showroom.
Today you’ll experience some Italian country hospitality as we visit a family farm where a delightful couple, Giovanni and Francesca, blessed with six children now grown up, will share a slice of their everyday life with you. On their farm they produce their own cheeses and meat and most of what they eat. Giovanni’s salami is truly remarkable. Sit down to an absolutely scrumptious farm lunch and chat and laugh with them as they candidly tell you about what their life is all about.
After lunch Giovanni will take you to visit the goats and other animals and birds, his cheese making room and the gardens. Their rhythms reflect the seasons, a call back to a simpler, agrarian life you will experience for yourself.
After reluctantly saying arrivederci to Giovanni and Francesca, if time, we’ll visit a nearby factory which produces torrone, a nougat candy often filled with hazelnuts and covered with chocolate. So irresistible that you’re bound to leave with a shopping bag full!
Then we'll drive to the pretty little town of Barolo set in a valley with hills of vineyards all around. Here, you'll visit the charming Brezza family in one of their winery's old cellars, where the father or son will sit with you around a wooden table lit by candles and lead you through a tasting of their wines. Your conversation with them inevitably strays to topics like family and friendship, so when you see them again upstairs in their restaurant for dinner, they feel like old pals.
If the weather is warm, you'll enjoy a series of delicious plates out on their terrace, with lovely views of Barolo castle which dominates the town, vineyards and hills beyond. Be sure you order their excellent Brasato al Barolo, veal roll slices served with a rich Barolo gravy and for dessert, their torrone hazelnut nougat semifreddo with chocolate on top.
Friday
The day begins with a meandering walk through the streets in the delightful medieval heart of Alba, a small bustling city. You’ll can leisurely browse the high quality clothing and houseware stores or step inside tempting gastronomy shops with names like “Peccati della Gola—Sins of the Throat”. Grab a cappuccino and inhale the intoxicating aroma of rich, Italian roast at a cafe in the main piazza with its picturesque, golden-hued buildings and cathedral that is a medieval treasure dating back to 1486. This is the life, Mama-style!
The afternoon belongs to Chef Ester, the owner of a renowned restaurant set in vineyards outside Barbaresco and a chef for the Italian Olympic team. Ester will fill your senses with her authentic recipes for a full Piemonte spread. Delicate rolls of roasted peppers stuffed with tuna and topped with a savory parsley sauce look pretty as a picture on the plate. An aromatic dish of rabbit simmered in Barbaresco wine and herbs is one of Ester’s favorites. She will regale you with her charming stories and cooking tips as her friendly daughter assists you with your techniques.
Head out to your table on the terrace for dinner with a deeply satisfying glass of Barbaresco in hand and feel proud of your ever expanding cooking skills.
Saturday
It’s market day and you’re headed to browse the street stalls in Alba, bursting with local people who shop there regularly. The color, pace and sounds of this action filled extravaganza will amaze you. The shopkeepers will entice you with their wares. A lively, genuine slice of Italian life!
After your shopping at the market and at your newly discovered favorite stores, you'll be ready for a light lunch in Alba.
You reluctantly depart for Turin or for Alba's train station.
Starting off your cooking, wine and walking extravaganza, meet your group at Turin airport or railway station before departing for the town of Verduno or Barolo about 12 miles away. Your accommodation in Verduno will be in a stately, yet down to earth hotel that was once the summer home of Italian King Carlo Alberto in the 1840s. In town of Barolo we stay at a pretty, family-run hotel in the town with lovely views of Barolo castle and vineyards.
After settling in, dine with the rest of your group in a typical restaurant, drinking great local wines like Barbera and eating authentic Piedmont specialties.
Monday
Explore the La Morra area and as you drive along its winding country roads, you’ll have a spectacular view of the verdant Barolo wine valley below. From La Morra take a leisurely walk along pathways through vineyards down to the Ratti family winery.
Housed in the Abbey of the Annunziata, the family's private wine museum dates back to 1162 when monks began making wine there. Massimo, the winery’s effervescent owner (also a local celebrity!) will give you a fascinating, entertaining personal tour about the soils, grapes, barrels, wine making in the old days. As you taste the fine Ratti wines, he'll teach you how to appreciate Barolo wine with its unique flavor characteristics. Wine connoisseurs always rave about this experience with Massimo (or a member of his family) as a good introduction to the area's wines.
Lunch today is at a restaurant in the town of Santa Vittoria d’Alba made famous by the film “The Secret of Santa Vittoria”. As you sip a bottle of local wine and savor local dishes made from farm fresh ingredients, you'll look over rolling vistas of vineyards and hills, so typical of Piemonte wine country.
In the early evening, return to Real Castello for your early evening cooking lesson. Make typical Piemonte dishes like onion tart, risotto with Barolo and guinea hen with rosemary as well as local desserts like bunet, a cocoa pudding with crushed amaretti biscuits cooked in caramelized moulds.
Before enjoying these delicious creations for dinner, visit the Real Castello wine cellars, where your host will take happily tour you through cellars and give you tastings of their acclaimed wines like Nebbiolo and Pelaverga, which resembles a spicy Barolo.
Congratulate yourselves on your fine cooking and as you savor many courses in your delicate, outstanding dinner, each paired with great Piedmont wines, you'll understand why the Real Castello's restaurant is internationally famous for its cuisine.
Tuesday
Today drive to the scenic Barbaresco wine country hills and visit the famous Marchesi di Gresy winery that produces a wide range of acclaimed red and white wines including one of the best Barbaresco wines.
From this state of the art winery, travel high up into beautiful mountains into lush, green hills covered in forests and nut trees. Here in a little town, as you enter a well known bakery, you’ll feel swept away with the perfume of chocolate. In a three hour demonstration lesson in the bakery kitchen, the artisan baker owner will divulge his secrets to making his famous chocolate cakes like sachertorte and hazelnut cake.
With your sweet tooth well satisfied, we drive down to a small, family farm nearby where we meet a man passionate about making his sheep cheeses in a totally natural way. You’ll meet the sheep and learn how he makes his cheeses in the cheese making room. In a divine picnic with him, you’ll sample a range of his cheeses as he eagerly tells you all you’d ever want to know.
We wind our way through these peaceful higher hills and back down into the wine country. Dinner this evening will be in a typical restaurant full of local people in a little town in the hills.
Wednesday
This morning you'll get a warm welcome at another Barolo winery such as Rocche Castamagno in La Morra. Taste their fine range of wines and chat and laugh with their sommelier as you deepen your knowledge of Barolo wines. Weather permitting, you’ll also walk through their vineyards and learn about how their vines are grown.
Before lunch you'll have time to stroll around this pretty hill town, and perhaps stop at the municipal wine store, one of the best for its Barolo selection and personal service.
We drive to a café in the hill town of Castiglione Falletto where, weather permitting, we lounge on a scenic outdoor patio al fresco, and enjoy some light local appetizers or salads with a cool glass of white wine in hand.
We then travel to the hillside town of Serralunga to visit a unique, magical medieval castle, renovated in 1340. With the castle's entertaining guide, you'll discover ingenious architectural features that kept invaders out and what life was like for soldiers living in the spartan conditions. Up on the top floor, you'll marvel at the 360 degree views of the medieval town walls and the green vine covered hills all around you.
For dinner we’ll dine in a typical restaurant on more delicate Piedmontese fare.
Thursday
We drive to the hill town of Grinzane Cavour to visit its imposing castle dating back to about 1000, formerly home to Count Cavour, Italy’s first prime minister in 1852. Admire wide panoramas or visit its interesting wine museum and wine showroom.
Today you’ll experience some Italian country hospitality as we visit a family farm where a delightful couple, Giovanni and Francesca, blessed with six children now grown up, will share a slice of their everyday life with you. On their farm they produce their own cheeses and meat and most of what they eat. Giovanni’s salami is truly remarkable. Sit down to an absolutely scrumptious farm lunch and chat and laugh with them as they candidly tell you about what their life is all about.
After lunch Giovanni will take you to visit the goats and other animals and birds, his cheese making room and the gardens. Their rhythms reflect the seasons, a call back to a simpler, agrarian life you will experience for yourself.
After reluctantly saying arrivederci to Giovanni and Francesca, if time, we’ll visit a nearby factory which produces torrone, a nougat candy often filled with hazelnuts and covered with chocolate. So irresistible that you’re bound to leave with a shopping bag full!
Then we'll drive to the pretty little town of Barolo set in a valley with hills of vineyards all around. Here, you'll visit the charming Brezza family in one of their winery's old cellars, where the father or son will sit with you around a wooden table lit by candles and lead you through a tasting of their wines. Your conversation with them inevitably strays to topics like family and friendship, so when you see them again upstairs in their restaurant for dinner, they feel like old pals.
If the weather is warm, you'll enjoy a series of delicious plates out on their terrace, with lovely views of Barolo castle which dominates the town, vineyards and hills beyond. Be sure you order their excellent Brasato al Barolo, veal roll slices served with a rich Barolo gravy and for dessert, their torrone hazelnut nougat semifreddo with chocolate on top.
Friday
The day begins with a meandering walk through the streets in the delightful medieval heart of Alba, a small bustling city. You’ll can leisurely browse the high quality clothing and houseware stores or step inside tempting gastronomy shops with names like “Peccati della Gola—Sins of the Throat”. Grab a cappuccino and inhale the intoxicating aroma of rich, Italian roast at a cafe in the main piazza with its picturesque, golden-hued buildings and cathedral that is a medieval treasure dating back to 1486. This is the life, Mama-style!
The afternoon belongs to Chef Ester, the owner of a renowned restaurant set in vineyards outside Barbaresco and a chef for the Italian Olympic team. Ester will fill your senses with her authentic recipes for a full Piemonte spread. Delicate rolls of roasted peppers stuffed with tuna and topped with a savory parsley sauce look pretty as a picture on the plate. An aromatic dish of rabbit simmered in Barbaresco wine and herbs is one of Ester’s favorites. She will regale you with her charming stories and cooking tips as her friendly daughter assists you with your techniques.
Head out to your table on the terrace for dinner with a deeply satisfying glass of Barbaresco in hand and feel proud of your ever expanding cooking skills.
Saturday
It’s market day and you’re headed to browse the street stalls in Alba, bursting with local people who shop there regularly. The color, pace and sounds of this action filled extravaganza will amaze you. The shopkeepers will entice you with their wares. A lively, genuine slice of Italian life!
After your shopping at the market and at your newly discovered favorite stores, you'll be ready for a light lunch in Alba.
You reluctantly depart for Turin or for Alba's train station.
Inclusions
hotel with private bath and continental breakfast
3 cooking lessons
all meals
excursions listed in the itinerary
private transport in minivan
local guides
private pick-up and drop-off at Turin's airport or train station
3 cooking lessons
all meals
excursions listed in the itinerary
private transport in minivan
local guides
private pick-up and drop-off at Turin's airport or train station
Exclusions
wines at meals
airfare
airfare
Contact Phone
1-800-557-0370 or 604-681-4074
Visit Website: www.italycookingschools.com
