Day Six: Monday, November 24, 2008

Day Six: Monday, November 24, 2008
Day Two in Northern Italy, near Asti
Tasting Barbaresco, Barbera, and Barolo
A Beautiful Day in the Piemonte Countryside
Dinner at Fratoria Madama Vigna

Slept beautifully. Woke up at seven and went back to sleep for awhile. It's now 8:30 and we are getting ready to head down for breakfast.

Breakfast and Tour Planning
Breakfast was great. Yogurt and cereal, toast with scrambled eggs, great home baked muffins, spumuta, cheese from Bra, salami, grapes and coffee.




As we were finishing Tim came over and we went over our travel options and wow do we have options. We are going to start by going back the way we went to Vezza and stop first at a winery in Barbaresco. Then after that there are multiple options for food, enotecas and scenery. We'll have to see what happens. Tune in later today to find out.

Barbaresco at Martinenga
We left Villa Sampaguita at about 10:15.It was quite cold. The temp in the car said -1 degree Celsius which is below freezing. I think our appointment in Barberesco was at 10:30 so obviously it wouldn't mattter much since we were on Italian time. Our winery tour that tim arranged was at Tenuta Cisa Asinari Dei Marchesi Di Gresy but the main property was called the Martinenga Estate.




from the brochure. Famous in ancient Roman time when the estate was known as Villa Martis, today Martinenga's 11 hectars (29.5 acres) vineyards of Nebbiolo for Barbaresco d.o.c.g. are considered to be one of the greatest single vineyards, dedicated to the production of the Barbaresco. With ideal southern exposure and the particular composition of the soil (blue marl) the diligent work of Martinenga's grape growers produce fruit that is transformed into a Barbaresco of extraordinary class, race and finesse. The favourable microclimate allows Martinenga to grow grapes of high quality even in difficult vintages, thanks to careful selection of grapes. This is the most important guarantee that Martinenga can offer to the consumer. The production of Tenute Cisa Asinari dei Marchesi di Gresy takes place at the central winery located in Martinenga. The winery, recently expanded, is equipped with a "state of the art" plant which provides the means to produce products of the highest quality, with respect to the oenological tradition from grapes grown in the various estates which di Gresy owns.

We found the winery without any trouble thanks to Tim's directions but we didn't arrive until almost ten to eleven. We had trouble finding the door to get in but soon a woman popped out who spoke English. She said something about getting papers and went back in, and we didn't we her for quite some time. When she returned, she took us out to the edge of the terrace area to show us where all the vineyards of the estate were and what grapes were being grown there. It was really quite fascinating.

The blue area–the GAIUN Vineyard extension 6.37 acres, exposure-avg.alt. S - 886 ft–was the vineyard that produced the Barbaresco we tasted and purchased.


Our tour guide was a lovely woman; her name was Marinella Cirio and she had three kids too.We first saw the huge oak casks with oak from Slovenia holding Barbera d' Asti from the Monte Columbo vineyard, then we saw the place where the bottles stay before they are labeled, next we went into the barrel room which was large enough so all the barrels could fit on one level and not have to be stacked.








The final stop was the tasting room where were were able to tast four different wines. First was a white, a 2001 Gresy Chardonnay, then a 2006 Barbera d'Asti, next a Monte Colombo Barbera d'Asti, and finally a 2003 Gauin Martinenga Barbaresco. The Barbera d' Asti was cheap, but good; the Monte Columbo was better, and the Gauin Barbaresco was the most fun because we had seen the exact spot the grapes had been grown. Apparently the Barbarescos need to be aged at least ten years to be at their best, but because it had been super hot in 2003 this one was much closer to being completely drinkable. Or at least that was what the marketing line was. I bought three of the cheaper Barbera d'Asti, two Monte Columbo Barberas, and two of the Gaiun Martinenga Barberesco-one to drink soon and one to save.






We left the winery and drove back into Barbaresco and stoped briefly at the enoteca in the church. I am more a fan of tasting where a wine is produced more than I am of tasting a bunch of different wines in a single place. After leaving Barbaresco and turning back on the main road we stopped at another winery, Francone, that Tim had suggested. Almost as soon as we got out of the car we were greeted by Marco who was one of the Francone family. He said they didn't open until two but he would do a tasting for us. We tasted Arneis, a white; Dolcetto d' Alba (5.50 euro), a cheap red; and a Barolo (23 euro). We bought a couple of the Colcetto and a couple of the Barolo, so I am really set with my wine buying..

Continuing our Ring Tour of Piemonte
Next we drove up into Neive Alta as suggested by Jim Petrucci bu we didn't try to find the couple he spoke about. Next we went toward mango and Mango Castello along these incredibly winding and steep roads with vineyards every where along the way. it was quite beautiful considering all the leaves were off almost everything. Next we swung around San Stefano Belbo and in Canale we stopped and had a cafe and everyone went to the bathroom in a true European squatter. The next town was Nizza Monferrato and then we swung back toward Asti through Mombercelli. We drove through Asti and go a little lost but we found the super mercato PAM that was a landmark on one of Tim's maps and we were fine. We went into the PAM and looked for Tums, but never found any or anything that was pill-like. We figured it must all be in a farmacia. We found our way through a couple more roundabouts and made it back to Villa Sampaguita by 4:15 or so with no problem.We chilled until dinner time.

Dinner at Tratorria Madama Vigna
Many places are closed on Monday but Rina recommended a place in a nearby town called Madama Vigna. It tuned out to be a Trattoria in the bottom floor of a hotel.






It was just about a ten minute drive from the Villa and so it didn't long for us to make out 8 pm reservation. As soon as we sat down, I knew I was going to love it. Ironically when we were driving over, I told every one that we need to be wise with what we ordered and that we did not want to over order. Well as soon as the woman came up and started asking questions about what we wanted without giving us any menus, I knew I had to let wisdom go and see where the evening took us.
First she asked if we wanted antipasti and we said yes and somehow we communicated that we wanted the misto which is an assortment of several. Before that came we had a small plate of crostini, small bread slices with a cheese spread, and grapes. The gentleman who pretty much had to be the owner came to our table and asked if we wanted prosecco and of course we said yes.

Crostini


Antipasti
Our misto antipast plate was like nothing I had ever had before. if I figured it correctly we had six different tastes. On the first plate we had a rooster salad, a steak tarte that she called "crudo" and slice of meat with a tasty yellow sauce.

Notice the radish garnish

On the second plate there was a potato thing, a cheese thing and a spinach tart. Note the carved vegetable art. This one is a zuccini


Pasta Course
For the pasta course Sue had a spaghetti with Bolognese sauce. Zoe and I had ravioli with a sausage sauce and Christine had gnocchi with rabbit sauce.


Ravioli with sausage sauce


Gnocchi with Rabbit sauce

Meat course
Christine, Zoe and I had cinghiale with polenta for our meat course. It was shaped into little balls and placed on and around a square of polenta.

Sue had a dish of braised beef that she immediately tried to share with all of us. We were more stuffed by the minute

Dessert Course
We had another sampler for dessert. Three on one plate. One was a panacotta with three different types of fresh berries-a blackberry, raspberry, and a third type of berry we couldn't identify. There was also a piece of hazelnut cake and a most slab of something chocolate.


Coffee and Limoncella
We each had our cafe and it was the strongest one we have had yet.


We waited for the bill trying to remember what the Italian equivalent of "la addition" was and then I remembered it was "Il Conto," the count. The total bill with everything came to 165 Euro, about $215 or so. Then the woman offered us limoncella after we had paid the bill.





It was another fabulous Italian meal, one of the best we have had. We got back n the car and the temp had dropped to 2 below (C) and made it quickly back to Villa Sampaguita. We all were full and exhausted and it was nearly 11 by the time we got back. The meal took well over two hours.

165 Euros