Piemonte WINE Tours

Saluzzo: a part of Italy that remains undiscovered. Saluzzo is a beautiful town with a rich history. The wine region, Colline Saluzzesi, still preserves some indigenous local varieties. And there is a relation with Chateau d'Yquem...

Read more here:
https://paulbalke.com/saluzzo-authentic-beauty-at-the.../

For more information: read my Piemonte Wine and Travel Atlas.

Saluzzo, authentic beauty at the foot of mount Monviso - Paul Balke One of those places completely missed by most international tourists: Saluzzo. Once this little town at the foot of the high Monviso mountain was the capital of an indepent country, the marchesato del Saluzzo, which covered a huge territory both in the Alps to the west and to the east into Langhe hi...

A place with historical significance: Castello di Grinzane Cavour (Barolo region, Piemonte). In this castle lived Count Cavour: he was the founder of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 and Italy's first minister president. He was also the first producer of the Barolo wine in its present form. He had invited the enologue Staglieno to improve the wine. Later the French enologue Oudart came to the project and improved the fermentation techniques and added small quantities of Neirani (a local grape now abandoned) to Nebbiolo: this way the famous Barolo wine was born. In that period Marquise Colbert, living in the Castle of Barolo, had big properties in the area and she started to work with Oudart. This way the new wine 'Barolo' became known at the court of the King of Italy in Turin.
Inside the castle is the enoteca and a very interesting museum that shows this history.

BAROLO DOCG is a unique wine, it possesses a combination of power and elegance, style, full body, alcoholic. The pattern of aromas is really amazing, it is of a huge complexity has almost no equals in the wine world. The tannic structure of the Nebbiolo grape requires some years of aging before the wine will offer the elegance for which it is known. All this is the result of patient work of producers that have learned to work with great perfection and (more important!) patience. Barolo would never have become great without the climatic and the soil conditions of the Langhe. Therefore the Langhe is Italy's most prominent wine region. And Barolo is one of the world's greatest wines!
BARBARESCO DOCG is not Barolo's little brother: it is almost equal because the differences between Barolo and Barbaresco are very small: this was already said by Domizio Cavazza, one of the founders of Barbaresco.
A tour through some of Barolo's and Barbaresco's most prominent cellars.

Snow in Barbaresco, Piemonte, today. Wine producers are happy to see snow: it keeps the vineyards healthy, keeps illnesses away, and helps to keep the water balance in the soil.