We thought we might make this a wine village day: it was uncommonly cool, so good for a walkabout. The initial thought was a quick visit to Barbaresco followed by a drive to Serralunga d’Alba, where we would have lunch at Centro Storico, a trattoria we all love. Of course, things worked out a bit differently.
All three cards rendezvoused on the street just below the heart of the village–there really isn’t much parking here.
The center of the village consists of just one narrow street running gently uphill from the regional Enotecha to the ancient tower of Barbaresco.
The vineyards fall away steeply on either side, making for some dramatic views.
Most of the crew wanted to go up the tower, with its remarkable perspective on the vineyards. Sue and I instead took in an outdoor exhibition with portraits of all the major Barbaresco winemakers. By the time everyone was down, it was already time for lunch, so we simply elected to eat at Antica Torre, a wonderful Osteria that we’ve eaten at before.
The food here is superb. Sarah and I both indulged in the mixed appetizer plate: a wonderful version of vitello tonnato, carne cruda with black truffles, and a otherearthly potato salad. The restaurant is particularly known for its tajarin (Piemontese dialect for tagliolini), the fine, eggy fresh pasta typical of the Piedmont. Dan had his with ragu (which he pronounced the best he’d ever had); Sarah and I with truffles. But the girls had theirs with just butter, and we all agreed that that was the way to go: simple, deeply flavorful, enormously rich.
We again started with a nice Franciacorta from Ca’ del Bosco; we finished the week, though, with the best of all our red wines: the 2013 Marchesi di Grey Barbaresco Martinenga Camp Gros. It was a treat to compare this to the same wine from a different vintage. 2013 was a spectacular year for Barbaresco; in comparison to the 2015, this wine was sleeker, sexier, altogether beguiling.
Andrew had wanted to take back some big bottles from one of our favorite producers, the Produttori del Barbaresco. This is often called the greatest wine cooperative in the world; it pays more than other producers for the fruit it buys from growers, and the winemaker extracts every ounce of potential.
Unfortunately, they were totally sold out of their riserva wines, each of which is from one vineyard and produced only in exceptional years. The young lady behind the counter was nice enough to tell us that a couple of wine stores in the village still had some riservas for sale, and Andrew splurged on a Jeraboam (!) of the “normale,” 2019, and a magnum of 2017 riserva from the Ovello vineyard.
After a quick espresso at a cafe, we were ready to head for the cars…the girls were eager for a gelato and, truth to tell, we just hadn’t eaten many sweets during the week. We were prepared to drive to Alba in search of a Gelateria, but, as we reached the cars, Viv noticed that the bar across the street sold gelato.
More remarkably, there was a wonderful playground behind the bar…a paradise for grandchild pics!
And, finally, a memorable group portrait!
Followed by a somewhat less memorable variant.
Back at the Cascina, it was really too cool for swimming, but Viv and Iggles gave it a go…briefly!
Our last evening was lovely; we ate inside in the grand dining room and enjoyed our last round of pasta, salad, and good wine for this trip.