Piedmont, the complete package

By Nick Ryan

There is a time and place for everything and every place has its time.

For Piedmont that time is late Autumn.

Piedmont is a place that wears brown well. Burnt umber, burnished bronze and tarnished copper too.

Don’t get me wrong, Piedmont’s pretty darn speccy at any time and I first fell in love with the place in spring when the vines have full foliage and blossom bursts from the trees.

But Autumn just seems so right here, the contours of the landscape fully exposed, bare vines running up steep slopes to medieval hilltop towns, a gentle chill in the air.

It looks right. It feels right. And it sure as hell tastes right.

For a start it doesn’t hurt that it’s white truffle season. More than enough funghi-erotic writing has been inspired by the glories of the white truffle and I don’t intend to add to the gushing torrent here other than to say you haven’t lived until you’ve eaten a bowl of handmade pasta in a medieval Piemontese castle that’s had a truffle the size of a cricket ball shaved all over it.

But even more importantly it’s a time when it just seems right to be drinking nebbiolo.

It’s a time when you turn to you glass looking for substance and depth, for tar and earth and a touch of floral lift, for beautifully etched dark fruit flavours and tightly woven tannins.

There’s something deeply satisfying about these great Barolos and Barbarescos, a completeness to them that makes them truly special.

They are great wines in any context. They are life-changers when you drink them within view of the vineyards that gave rise to them.

A lot of people would plump for Burgundy when it comes to which region offers the most complete package when it comes to pleasing the mind, mouth and stomach. And they’d almost be right.

But for me it has to Piedmont.

Although I’m sketchy on Spain and to my sausage-eating shame have never been to Alsace, I’m going to lay it on the line and say that no region on earth can outgun the sensory delights of Piedmont and if I could only ever visit one wine region for the rest of my life then this would be it.

Where to eat:

OSTERIA LA LIBERA
Via E. Pertinace n. 24/a Alba (CN)
Tel. 0173,293155
Brilliant modern take on local classics. A must.

TRATTORIA DELLA POSTA
Fraz. S. Anna n. 87 Monforte (CN)
Tel. 0173,78120
An institution doing high-end regional cuisine in one of the Langhe’s prettiest towns.

TRATTORIA ANTICA TORRE
Via Torino Barbaresco (CN)
Tel. 0173,635170
Simple but soulful. A perfect lunch spot in the heart of Barbaresco.

Da Cesare at Fontanafredda
via Alba 15
12050 Serralunga d’Alba (CN)
Tel. 0173 520141
The region’s most uncompromising chef beating his own drum within the historic grounds of Fontanafredda.

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