Author Archives: Piemontegirl

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About Piemontegirl

I am a wine lover currently located in Boston. I drink wine mostly from Piemonte and Burgundy. Two summers in a row I have worked at Vietti in Piemonte.

Beijing Palace Oslo

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A few months ago I discovered this gem with my parents. Hidden away in Oslo, is a truly fascinating Asian restaurant. They have a wide variety of dim sum, good sushi and other asian dinner dishes. The food is very good, which is hard to come by outside of Asia. But the best part about this place is not the food, it’s the wine list.

In a funny plot twist, they have two different wine lists. The one on the menu and a separate one with a larger selection. The second, secret list, has wines you never would have guessed, like Comte Liger Belair, G Roumier and Comtes Lafon. Absolutely incredible! And almost no mark up. If you are interested in wines and find yourself in Oslo, Beijing Palace is a must!

Check out their menu here: http://www.beijingpalace.org/meny/ 

PS: If you’re on intsagram, check out hongwat, he is the guy to talk to about the wines.

Top 5 restaurants in Barolo

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  1. Mangè
  2. Centro Storico
  3. More e Macine
  4. Osteria Veglio
  5. Osteria dei Vignaiolo

 

Mangè

At Mangè you will find Maria Kristina and her husband. Maria is the chef, and her food is out of this world. The atmosphere at Mangè is friendly and you feel like you are surrounded by family and friends. You can come here for lunch or dinner, but also if you just want a glass of wine, a snack or a gin tonic. They have a little patio outside, where you have a view of the barolo hills and can catch the action of La Morra. Since the restaurant is located in the middle of La Morra, you are sure to witness the local life at its best.

Centro Storico

At Centro Storico, a small restaurant hidden in Serralunga d’Alba, you will find the best Champagne list outside of Champagne. You will also find Ciccio. Ciccio, which means little fat, is the owner. He, alongside his wife, make incredible food, and will serve it to you at one of the 8 tables they have. It may be small, but it’s a can’t miss if you are in the Piemonte region.

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More e Macine

Located in La Morra, Ito and his crew will serve you good food and wine in a fantastic atmosphere. If you look around, it is almost guarenteed one of the winemakers in the area will sit at one of the tables, drinking coffee or wine, chatting with their friends.

Osteria Veglio

You can find Osteria Veglio along the widning road leading up to La Morra, in Annunizata. The restauarant recently changed chefs, and it has become a *must* when we are in the Barolo area. The food is incredible, and if you’re lucky, the terrace has room so that you can eat with a view.

Osteria dei Vignaiolo

This little gem can be found at a crossroads in Santa Maria. Weather permitting, sitting outside is a treat! The food is very good, but I go for the Panacotta! Truly amazing. I haven’t found panacotta that good anywhere else.

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Femmes Fatales

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Chiara (3)

Territoriet does a good job of gathering wine people, and this time was no different. Veslemøy, part of the Moestue group, had organized for Chiara and Claudia to come and show their wines. The theme for the night was “Femmes Fatales”, which is fitting as these women are strong characters in Piemonte.

Chiara Boschis is located in Barolo and she was part of the Barolo Boys revolution in Piemonte. She is a wonderful person, a very good winemaker and very fun to be around. I reccommend visiting with her at her winery.

Chiara (2)

I am less familiar with Claudia Ciglitui, but I do know her wines. Claudia is located in Barbaresco and I hope to visit the winery and learn more about the wines and the family this summer. You can read more about them on their website.

 

 

Lineup from my last visit to the Cantina

The visit with these wonderful winemakers was too short as always, but they are very busy, so I am grateful for any amount of time spent with them.

The wines they “showed” that night included Barbera from both producers as well as a few Barolo and Barbaresco.

From Chiara Boschis:

  • Barolo Cannubi 2009
  • Barolo Cannubi 2005
  • Barolo Via Nuova 2006
  • Barolo Via Nuova 2007
  • Barolo Via Nuova 2008

From Claudia Cigliuti:

  • Barbaresco Serraboella 2012
  • Barbaresco Via Erte 2012

Femmes Fatales

 

Manzone

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In March I went to Manzone for the first time. The winery is located a little outside of Monforte. I was lucky to meet Mirella, Giovanni Manzone’s daughter. Mirella joined her father at the winery in 2012. Giovanni bought a plot of land in 1925 and started making wine, and today they produce 9 different wines.

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I tasted 6 wines. We started with the white, a Rossese Bianco. I have never tried it before, it was very interesting, very fun to try. We then moved on to the dolcetto, which is one of my favorite wines. Dolcetto is so easy to drink, very fresh. And Manzone’s was no exception. We then tried the langhe nebbiolo before we moved on to the barolo. We tried 3 different crus. It was very fun to try the different crus together. The only difference between them is the terroir. So the different crus are each an expression of the soil.

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It was very nice to meet Mirella and I hope to be back again soon!

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Fratelli Revello

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I have been the Piemonte region quite a few times, and each time I try to visit some new places. On the list this time was Revello. My good friend Elena is the daughter of the winemaker and she was able to arrange a visit, a tour of the cellar and a tasting of some of their wines. Elena also works at the winery.

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Fratelli Revello, Carlo and Enzo, had their first vintage in 1992. The previous years were a mix of selling grapes to other producers, producing wine for their father and even pausing the winemaking to pursue other professions.  Recently, Carlo and Enzo split, and so going forward Enzo will be the sole winemaker with the help of his children Elena and Simone.

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My favorite part of the visit was the tasting room. One side of the room was completely covered in floor to ceiling windows, and the first thing you see is the beautiful ceder tree. And with this view we tried Barbera d’Alba Ciabot du Re 2013 and Barolo Giachini 2012. Both wonderful. I personally preferred the barbera, but probably only because the barolo 2012 is still quite young!

If you want to read more about Revello check out their website.

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Mangialonga 2016

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Siliva Altare, me and Jenny (M Marengo)

Once again I am gearing up for Mangialonga! I think that I’ll be able to go this year!

Mangialonga is 4 km non competetive enogastronomic hike that takes place in La Morra. In other words, you walk around in the beautiful Langhe while eating and drinking. I don’t think it gets better than that!

You can read more about it here and here.

Day 7

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Monte Carlo here I come!

I couldn’t believe it when I realized I had agreed to go to Monaco for a day. Yikes! Of well, off we go!

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Crazy! That is one way to describe Monaco. The buildings, the people, the yachts, the cars, the stores; crazy! But also, so beautiful! We had a fantastic day! Lunch was so fun they had to throw us out! And we made many fun friends.

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After lunch we walked around. We went to the Casino square and looked at all the amazing buildings. Incredible. And the casino was so beautiful. We only got to sneak a peak but I am not that interested in casinos so it was ok. As we were headed home the Birthday girl wanted Starbucks so we stopped by to get her a frappucino before driving back home. What a day!

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Day 6

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On the 6th day of my trip I started with a wine tasting at Manzone in Monforte. I had the pleasure of meeting with Mirella, and she showed me the cellar and a few of her wines. I will write more about my visit at a later time.

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After the tasting I drove back to La Morra for lunch at Osteria Veglio with Isabella and Pietro Oddero. I know Isabella very well from before, but I only recently had the pleasure of meeting Pietro in Oslo at Territoriet when he was here for a wine tasting. For lunch we had Marchesi di Gresy’s Sauvignon.

After lunch I drove straigth to Brezza for a quick tasting and to buy some wine. Amanda, she works at Brezza, is a very nice young lady from America. We have spent some time together from before, so the tasting was more of a catch up. She has started a blog, check it out here: http://www.amandaswineadventures.com/

After Brezza I rushed over to see Carlotta Rinaldi and her beautiful dog Vida. I always love visiting Rinaldi. The whole family is great. And it is always a blast when Beppe *Citrico* joins us, as he did this time! The visit had more to do with dogs and motorbikes than to do with wine, although we did have the chance to try some of their fantastic wines.

The night ended not so quietly at More e Macine with a little too much wine that I actually consumed in the kitchen. A first for me. I spent the majority of my time with the staff in the kitchen, trying both food and wine while dancing to *Watch me whip*. This was a day for the books.

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