Touring Piedmont With The Pros

In October and November each year, thousands of tourists from around the world – many of them Americans – descend upon the province of Cuneo in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy. What brings all of them to this territory at this time is something truly special – the opportunity to taste the famous tartufi bianchi (white truffles) of Alba.

There are truffles found elsewhere in Italy – the black ones from Umbria are especially famous, but it is the white variety from Alba that have captured the tastebuds and imagination of food lovers everywhere, and the local restaurants, from the everyday osterie and trattorie all the way up to Michelin-starred restaurants in the area feature these delicacies for lunch and dinner. The fiera tartufo takes place for six weeks in Alba, with classes and dinners and the opportunity to purchase some tartufi.

Of course, one cannot live on tartufi all day long (though for some people it would be interesting to try), so tourists need other activities, and just in case you weren’t aware, there are two major wine production zones only a few minutes’ drive from Alba; Barbaresco to the east, and Barolo to the south. These are the two most renowned wines of the Piedmont region; both are produced exclusively from the Nebbiolo variety and are among the longest-lived red wines in the world. Even better is the fact that both of these wines beautifully accompany the region’s local cuisine.

So it’s part of anyone’s journey to visit a few wine producers and the question is – who do you visit? Piedmont is not Napa Valley when it comes to tourism, as most wineries do not have facilities to welcome many guests. This is where a knowledgeable tour guide comes in, and two of the best that I’ve met in all my years of traveling are American ex-pats who now live in the region and specialize in showing tourists the best in the area’s wine and food. Their names are Anna Savino and Amanda Courtney and they are outgoing, extremely proficient in Piedmont’s customs, and above all, so valuable to any tourist who tries to learn all he or she can about this region’s viticultural and gastronomic glories.

Let’s start with Anna Savino. Born in San Francisco of Italian heritage, she had promised her father that one day she would have an “experience” in Italy. She moved to Piedmont in 2004, at first to teach English, and soon fell in love with, as she calls it, “an amazing wine region with hilltop castles.” With her experience of visiting wineries in California, it was only natural that she would make touring her business in Piedmont not long after.

Savino has been leading tours in the Langhe district now for about six years, but has in reality, been showing people around ever since she first arrived. She works with customized groups from 2-6 people and emphasizes that she “wants my clients to see the area for what it really is.” She notes that some tourists come to see fancy tasting rooms, so they can seek out famous bottles of wine, but comments that she fell in love with this region, because it was not that (meaning the rarified air of some wine destinations), but the area was about “hard working families, humble people doing tastings inside their homes, talking to you not only about wine, but life!”

A typical day for a tour with Savino starts about 9:30 in the morning and ends around 5:30 in the afternoon, meaning a full day, but lest you think that it’s a exhausting day, think again. She organizes one quality winery tasting in the morning, and one in the afternoon, along with a long “relaxing classic lunch with good food and wine. People are often shocked that is all we do, but this is no Napa. The families want to explain their craft, and take you through their cellars. It is not about quantity (but you will get plenty of wine!) but quality… and learning the complexities of the area.” She does note that she is flexible when it comes to planning and will adapt a schedule to the needs of her client.

Another American leading tours in the Langhe is Amanda Courtney, a native of New Hampshire. After her college studies in Maine, she moved to Los Angeles where she worked in the hospitality industry, starting her career as a sommelier. During her time in Los Angeles at Osteria Mozza, she met many Italian winemakers that she is friends with to this very day.

She worked a harvest in Santa Barbara wine country and decided she wanted to head to Italy to better understand the Nebbiolo grape. She recalls that one winemaker in particular there “was very gracious to my request and took me under his wing to make this happen.” She relished her time there, and soon met a man who would become her husband; she has been married seven years now and loves living in Piedmont.

Courtney has been leading tours in the region for four years now; they are private and range from two to 12 people, though she notes that she has had requests for groups of 36 up to 65 people; she comments that “all of these groups have worked out amazing.”

She points out that with the diversity of the region, there are so many wine and food related things to see, so she sends her clients an email with a list of winery options as well as other activities. She breaks the day down in three parts: morning, lunch (which she describes as “very important”) and afternoon. “With this breakdown we can do different things,” Courtney comments. She mentions that wine and food options can be mixed and matched. “For example, we could start the day off a bit early with a truffle hunt, walking into the woods with a hunter and his dog all morning, then warm up with a nice typical lunch, and end the day with a visit to a town and viewpoint along with a winery visit.”

She also starts some tours with a cup of coffee in the morning where she explains the region using maps and “other fun tools,” in her words. Sometimes there are visits to cheese or hazelnut farms. “The possibilites are endless,” Courtney explains.

Let’s share some final thoughts from these two women. “Many clients tell me, they love my enthusiasm and love for the wines and what I do,” says Savino. “I treat them like friends and hope they feel comfortable and taken care of. Again, they love the relationships I have with the people that make up the Langhe, Roero, and Monferrato. Also I really try to get to know the clients through communicating prior to the tour so I can choose carefully what I think would best suit the visitors and set up fun tastings with helpful comparisons of different styles, soils, etc.

“When people visit Piemonte, they always come back. They feel like they have a family here whether it is revisiting winemakers, restaurant owners, and shop owners who remember them. You can’t beat the clear days with snow capped Alps in the background and hilltop castles with a patchwork quilt of vineyards blanketing the rolling hills.”

For Courtney, she notes that her clients want to learn more than how to taste wines, they want to learn about the region. “I work with people on all different levels of wine knowledge, from people who have just started to enjoy wine and maybe this was their first winery visit, to professionals who have been in the industry for years and would like to discover the Piemonte region for the first time. 

“Of all the things to take away from my experience, I want my clients to remember a great time spent in Piemonte. Also confidence that the next time they are handed the wine list at a restaurant that they feel good ordering a bottle of wine or at least have a better understanding of wines of Piemonte, that they know the difference between a Barolo, Barbaresco, and Barbera.

“My tours are not cookie cutter, and working with over 200 wineries I have a great knowledge of the area and all the producers. So if you come back every year my tours will always be different, different areas, different wineries, and we are always trying to improve our experiences and education.”

For more information about Anna Savino and her tours, go to italiannacom

For more information about Amanda Courtney and her tours, go to amandaswineadventures.com