Some of the Finest Food & Wine in Italy
- Piedmont is one of the most prestigious and arguably the most exciting gastronomic region of Italy.
- Study wine and food production with the growers and makers, enjoy tastings and have meals in an excellent range of restaurants.
- Beautiful landscapes: upland pasturage, rolling hills, sloping vineyards and hazlenut woods.
- Time also for exploring the art and architecture of ancient towns and villages.
Gastronomically, Piedmont is undoubtedly one of Italy’s most interesting regions. Its wines are superb, the food produced there is varied and the delicious cooking ranges from traditional country fare to creatively modern cuisine. Moreover, the region is the centre of the Slow Food revolution which is transforming gastronomy in Italy and beyond.
There is also another winning feature: many Piedmontese in the food and wine business have a desire to share their passion, and welcome interested visitors with generous amounts of their time and produce. In part this may be because visitors are relatively few, despite the high reputation which Piedmont enjoys. (That in its twenty-year history MRT had not sent a tour there until 2008, except to its capital Turin, is an illustration of this neglect.)
For this tour we have bypassed Turin in favour of spending time in the countryside, seeing the origins of the food and wine and meeting the producers. But this bucolic exile is not at the expense of culinary excellence; you will find superb restaurants, from simple rustic trattorias where Granny’s recipes are still gospel, to Michelin-starred and innovative establishments, all serving some of Italy’s finest food.
The study and enjoyment of wines is a large part of the tour. Barolo is the dominant wine – noble, austere and complex, but the same nebbiolo grape is used for the dry red Dolcetto, the most widely produced wine in the Langhe, the elegant, tarry Barbaresco, and various other DOCs. We meet makers, chosen as much for their charm and communicativeness as for their wines, in some cases study their vines and the wine-making process, and taste the results. Among the foods we investigate, truffles are significant – Alba is something of a truffle capital – but the mountain cheeses, particularly the prestigious Castelmagno, make an equally powerful impression.
Landscape is another of the great pleasures of the tour. As its name suggests, Piedmont reaches from high pastures to alluvial plains, and much of it is used for agriculture (or small family-run farms). The Langhe hills are among the most beautiful in Italy, the flanks almost entirely carpeted with vineyards, the summits sporting castles, little mediaeval towns or ancient farmsteads.
Read the itinerary
1–7 October 2011
(MY 976)
7 days •
£2,590
Lecturer:
Carla Capalbo
Comments from participants in 2009:
‘We liked all the meals and were glad you included a wide range of cuisines and restaurants.’
C & MS, Bristol
‘This was our first tour with Martin Randall and was one of the best we have been on.’
C & MS, Bristol
‘A very enjoyable trip. Good number in the group. Good food and wine, good company. Good trip for a solo traveller.’
JR, London
‘An excellent range from the best of small town restaurants to the sophistication of the Museum restaurant at Rivoli.’
DO, Cheshire