Food & Wine of Piedmont™

Tie on your apron in Piedmont for an authentic food and wine experience with our Chefs Nino and Carla and their wine making family.  Located in the heart of Italy’s northern wine country, this noble family of wine makers have been scaling the heights of vinicultural excellence for almost two centuries.  Learn about farm-to-table produce, cooking in the seasons and the wine of this beautiful region in one of Italy’s most important vinicultures.

Food & Wine Of Piedmont

Your host is one of the oldest wine makers in Piemonte, a family that combined techniques learned in the French winemaking regions of Burgundy and Alsace using traditional grapes from Barbera and Nebbiolo and terroir of Monferrato. This unique combination put this vineyard in the vanguard of the Italian wine Renaissance of the 1970s that championed quality over quantity.

Today these wine makers produce several styles of Barbera d’Asti that range from refreshing with notes of cherry, raspberry and blueberry to more intense with notes of blackberry and black cherry. They also use the Barbera grape for a Monferrato Rosso, which renowned for its smooth earthiness and versatility in pairing with food. They also make wine with Nebbiolo, sometimes referred to as the king of Italian red grapes in a Nebbiolo d’Alba.  This wine boasts strong tannins, an elegant, fragrant Barolo and a traditional and well-balanced.

Wine and cooking go hand-in-hand in this tour and Chef Nino teaches and guides you.  He is the owner and third-generation culinary mastermind behind the cooking classes partnered with Chef Carla.  During your hands-on cooking classes, you’ll learn how to make antipasto,

You’ll also learn how to make Agnolotti Monferrato, a round ravioli stuffed with a vegetable filling of garden cabbage and herbs, or a veal variation.  Learn how to make the perfect Barolo risotto.  You’ll also learn to prepare a special cannelloni and Tajarin al ragù, traditional Piemontese egg noodles with a beef  beef, sausage and herb sauce.  Gnocchi alla bava, another favorote, is a potato gnocchi, butter, and either Fontina, Swiss, or Munster cheese. The cheese is cut into slices and placed over layered gnocchi in a buttered baking dish.   Another speciality is bagna cauda, the queen of Piedmont sauces, (in dialect, translating to warm sauce, is a sauce made with olive oil, garlic and anchovies paste, extensively cooked with butter, milk, cream or ground walnuts.  Bagna cauda is topped on bread or used to dip raw vegetables in. It goes well with the local full-bodied red wines, such as Barbera, Nebbiolo, Barbaresco and Dolcetto.

Main courses tempt with farm-to-table with a rabbit and sausage roast served with purple potato.  Crocchette di pollo e ricotta are Italian croquettes filled with chicken and ricotta. The dish originates from Piemonte and it’s typical of Turin. The cooked chicken is combined with ricotta, sage leaves, onions, lemon juice, and parsley. The mixture is then shaped into croquettes which are dipped in eggs and breadcrumbs.  There is also, anatra farcita alla novarese, baked duck filled with a delicious mixture of pork, veal, sausages, rice, eggs, nutmeg, chopped parsley, salt, and pepper.  Also on the cooking menu is salsiccia di Verduno, a sausage made from a well-balanced mix of lean veal and pork belly that are finely ground and seasoned with salt, pepper, and a variety of spices. The combination is traditionally enhanced with the addition of Pelaverga wine, a local variety of red wine, and the sausage mixture is then typically placed into natural casings.

Desserts are delicious and delicious – think Bonèt,  a rich, creamy and soft dessert made with amaretti cookies or hazelnut biscuits, eggs, cocoa powder, sugar, milk, and rum, and dates back to the 13th century.  Learn how to prepare zabaione, a velvety custard cream that is a tradition in this region.   Zabione was invented in Turin in the 16th century and was named after its inventor, a  Franciscan monk Pascual Baylón Yubero, the patron saint of pastry chefs.  Another favorite is Baci di Dame, meaning lady’s kisses, are traditional hazelnut butter cookies with a layer of chocolate-hazelnut cream nestled between.  The traditional cookies first appeared in pastry shops in Tortona, Piedmont, (a town famous for its hazelnuts), in the second half of the 19th century.

Piedmont Accommodations

Check into the countryside villa with spacious rooms, modern furnishings and luxurious white linens for your comfort.  Lush green gardens with fragrant flowers and fruit trees surround the property. Amenities including free wifi, flat screen televisions, exercise equipment and a magnificent pool.  Daily breakfast includes fresh fruit, eggs, yogurt, homemade cakes and torte, along with granola, cappuccino and tea.  There is a pool during the summer season and terrace area to relax.  The villa is a short distance to Asti, Alba, Barbaresco and Barolo.

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Exploring Piemonte, Montferrat and Italy’s Northern Wine Country

Monteferrat is not only one of the most important vinicultural districts of Italy, it’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to a fabulous literary tradition, which includes poet Vittoria Alfieri and best-selling historical novelist Umberto Eco.

Itinerary ~ 4 Days, 3 Nights

Check in and start your program on any day of the week

Day One: Welcome Dinner with Chef’s Tasting Wine Dinner

• Arrival and check in. Relax and refresh.
• Enjoy your Cooking Vacations’ Welcome Bag with Prosecco toast.
• In the evening, enjoy our Welcome Dinner featuring a Chef’s Tasting Wine Dinner with full course tasting menu paired with wine.

Day Two: Cooking Class, Artisan Cheese Tour Visit or Truffle Hunting Experience

• Traditional Italian breakfast is served.
• Following breakfast, tie on your apron and head to the kitchen for your cooking class.  Learn to prepare a full course menu of local fare.  Following the cooking class, everyone enjoys the food that was prepared in the kitchen with a toast of local wine.
• Following your cooking class, meet your host and discover an artisan cheese maker or a truffle hunter with trained truffle dog with driver.  The truffle hunt is seasonal.
• Following your tour, return to the property and relax.
• In the evening, dinner is on your own with suggestions provided or dine at the property, not included.

Day Three: Wine Tour Tasting Lunch & Farmhouse Dinner with Wine Pairing

• Traditional Italian breakfast is served.
• Meet your driver for an excursion to a famous Piedmont winery.  Visit the property, discover the vineyards, cantina and cellars with an English-speaking host.  Enjoy a wine tasting light lunch at the winery.
• Return to the property following your tour.
• In the evening, enjoy a Farmhouse Dinner prepared by the Chef featuring sliced fassona eye of round, medium cooked, with tuna sauce, homemade tajarin, regional pasta, with meat ragout and a Piedmontese artisan cheese selection with wine included.

Day Four: Breakfast and Farewell

• Traditional Italian breakfast is served.
• Check out & arrivederci!