In a recent post on the wines of Piemonte I wrote: you will be hard pressed to eat better in Italy - in the world maybe - than in Piedmont. The typical dishes of the local osterias like vitello tonnato and agnolotti del plin have been honed to exacting precision over the centuries. Tajarin al sugo, for example, is really not open to interpretation--the point is to do it well!

Even bagna cauda, which seems nothing more than a simple relish tray, is a thing of profound culinary pleasure. On my first night here in Alba, I walked straight to the Ceretto-owned Osteria La Piola where I had hoped to satisfy my year-long craving for carne cruda, the Piemontese specialty of chopped raw veal. On this particular night, the restaurant was paying homage to bagna cauda, a dish that is normally taken at home among friends given its communal nature of dipping vegetables in a cauldron of hot oil and anchovy. Raviolo in brodo was promised at the end so I thought I could suffer through a platter of raw vegetables. Yet when I crunched into that last cardoon and the last piece of bread sopped up the last bit of oil--I wanted more!

Sunday was a day of snow in the Langhe. At least a foot had fallen by morning and all of my winery visits were postponed. Without wi-fi or even a magazine to read I ventured out onto the streets of Alba in search of an English language newspaper. What I found instead was a translated copy of Nonna Genia, the classic work of Luciano de Giacomi and Beppe Lodi on the cooking of the Langhe region. With a bottle of Barbera and a slice of bakery pizza I read the book cover to cover that afternoon before going back in the snow to find a plate of tajarin.

From Nona Genia:
"In the culinary world tradition is not accorded the same respect it enjoys in other arts. We have great museums proudly showcasing their masterpieces from every era of human endeavour, acclaimed orchestras performing classical music throughout the world and collectors avidly competing for old masters, thereby driving up their value.

But in the culinary world, value is placed not so much on tradition as on the new. Today's culinary culture has adopted the mentality of the fashion world, where "tradition" is almost an embarrassing word."

You will be hard-pressed to eat better in Italy—in the world, maybe—than in the region of Piedmont. Piedmont, meaning “foot of the mountain,” lies in the northwestern corner of Italy, bordering France to the west and Switzerland to the north. It is enclosed on three sides by the Apennines and the Alps, and the cuisine here reflects its Alpine climate and proximity to France. Although the costal tourist destination of Cinque Terre lies just an hour from Gavi, the cuisine of Piedmont is decidedly mountainous rather than Mediterranean. In a typical Piemontese osteria, butter, eggy pastas, rice, and red meat are cooked with such honed and loving skill that you might wish you’d eaten here instead of your last Michelin-starred experience. 

Such exalted cuisine requires equally glorious wine, and Piedmont produces more DOC/DOCG classified bottles than any other region in Italy. Barolo and Barbaresco are the best-known wines of Piedmont. These highly collectible and highly sought-after long-lived reds are the product of the calcareous strewn hills of the Langhe, and the grapes seem perfectly content in the environs of northeast Italy. Nebbiolo, named for the morning fog of the region called “la nebbia,” gives such a beguiling aroma and satisfying structure that its most avid admirers are the wine world’s most passionate fanatics. 

I recently wrote a few words about Piedmont on our website. Click here and scroll down to read more about all the diversity and pleasure that Piedmont has to offer. 

 

Between proctoring a Court of Master Sommeliers certified exam at the Hotel Palomar, and a Burgundy class at San Francisco Wine Center, I managed to squeeze in a tasting of 2006 Barolos and Barbarescos (plus a few others) at the huge Wine Warehouse tasting at Fort Mason Center. I typically avoid these kinds of mega-blowout distributor tastings like the plague. There's always too much wine and way too many people but I went anyway hoping to get a glimpse of the 2006 vintage in Barolo and Barbaresco.

2006 has already stirred a lot of controversy on the web. Jeremy Parzen at Do Bianchi has been keeping tabs on the whole saga. Essentially the whole thing started with decanter.com reporting Bruno Giacosa's decision not to bottle his 2006 Barolos and Barbarescos. The article stated that the wines did not meet Giacosa's 'exacting standards' but failed to mention that Giacosa's health and other factors that may have played a role. Then the excellent Prudottori del Barbaresco announced that they would not bottle their 2006 crus and the boards went wild! Antonio Galloni's 2006 Vintage Report here (and you can follow all the blogosphere drama you wish) but there's no substitute for tasting the wines and drawing your own conclusions.

The 2006s I tasted showed a lot of structure but were aromatic and had rich mid-palates. Wines that left an impression were Mariacristina Oddero's Barbaresco Gallina followed by the Barolo crus of of Brunate, and Rocche di Castiglione. Guido Fantino of Conterno Fantino showed Sorì Ginestra, Vigna del Gris, and Mosconi and I loved them all. Matteo Sardagna of Luigi Einaudi poured his Terlo (cinque vigne), Costa Grimaldi and stellar Cannubi bottlings. And I enjoyed meeting Manuel Marchetti and tasting his Marcarini Barolo La Serra and Brunate wines.  

jessebeckerMS

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