(all pictures are low res, for high res click here)
After a couple of incredible days in
Portofino, our itinerary had us headed back into the Alps to the Piedmont region
of Italy. This part of Italy
is really known for 2 things,
truffles and amazing
wine. We based our trip to this region from the
Hotel Lovera Palace in
Cuneo
.
The hosts at this hotel were incredibly nice. They set up our reservations for
wine tasting the next day and even printed a full itinerary with maps and
brochures for us. It was very much appreciated. The restaurant at this hotel has
a couple Michelin rated chefs, so the dinner we had there was out of this world.
Ok, our wine touring continued
(video) the next day in the tiny village of
Barolo
home to wine of the
same name.
.
A castle can be found in the center of the village
(video) of which vineyards are surrounding it.
It's pretty darn cool.
Our hotel had set up lunch reservations at
the famous Marchesi winery, where we
had a 6 course lunch that rivaled our incredible dinner from the night before.
Each course was perfectly paired
with a special type of
Marchesi wine (our favorite was the PI CIT / veal ravioli pairing). The lunch
also included a tour of the grounds and their wine cellar.
- Note this next barrel is over 150 years old.
. We were sorry to leave
Marhesi, but we had additional reservations in the adjacent village of
La Morra. We visited
Rocche di Costamagna which is
small but very highly acclaimed. We met with the owner, who spoke no English,
but took us on a tour of the winery anyway.
The owner spent the
next 2.5 hours conversing with us (and we simply nodded and added our two cents
when we could understand), and this visit was one of the great highlights of the
trip. It was just the owner and Ellen and I sharing wine and learning about his
family's heritage. It was a classic moment to be sure.
Our last stop for the honeymoon was Nice which is found in the French Riveria .