Carolina's fruity sauce

This week we are hosting Carolina Stupino's guest post about Piedmont flavors and in particular: cugnà.

Born in Turin to a wine producing father and a food loving mother, Carolina always enjoyed good food. Over a decade ago, she moved to the UK  to study and work as a journalist. Since then her goal in the kitchen  has been to bring the flavours of Northern Italian cuisine to London, to recreate the dishes of her childhood with the ingredients she could find over there. That’s been the starting point of a gastronomic journey which brought her to explore different cooking traditions from around the world. But without ever losing sight of her origins. Carolina is also the author of Tastes of Carolina

5 day trips from Turin

This week our friend Ishita had a special request for us as she's visualizing in detail her next trip to Turin and Piedmont. At the moment she is organizing everything in her mind and on her own, and just like most non European visitors, she will not be driving. So, this post is for her and all those people who dream of visiting Italy, unconventional places and, above all, love sleek architecture, amazing food and top quality wines!
Here below you'll find our tips for 5 day trips you can easily do from Turin by train and/or bus.

In fact, given the geological and geographical conformation of Piedmont and Turin's location, you can really enjoy our many diverse landscapes from the Alps to the lakes, passing through royal residences and medieval towns.

Hotel Genova: where the celebs go

During Turin Epicurean Capital 2015, two of our guests: Sandra Jimenez Osorio and Maria Pasquale were hosted by the elegant Hotel Genova right in Turin's heart, so we decided to go and see in person how well they were treated!

Balbiano's wine tasting

Continuing our visit at the Balbiano winery, right out of the last toy room, the wine tasting started!

The first wine we had was  the bubbly rosé.
This spumante or "foamy wine" made following the charmat method gets its delicate pink color after spending only 8/9h in the conducts with the grape skins.

It is a smooth, round wine low in tannins best paired with Chinese and Indian dishes.

the Balbiano winery museum

When it comes to wine Piedmont is the Italian Burgundy and Turin is one of the 3 European cities with a urban vineyard.
Last year we visited this Queen's villa vineyard during the harvest so today we'll tell you about the Balbianos, the winemakers who manage it.

Turin's Villa della Regina aka the Queen's Villa vineyard during the 2014 harvest