L'Erm winery

Follow us in our winery visit and wine tasting at L'Erm the winery of Turinepi's long time friend Jyothi Aimino in the Canavese wine district here in Piedmont.

Scroll down for our wine analysis and watch this beautiful reel here

il sole tra la nebbia

Tra le giornate buie, uggiose e nebbiose, quando il sole pallido traspare dalle nuvole ci porta grande gioia, la stessa che vogliamo portare a tutti gli amanti di Torino, del Piemonte, della lingua e della cultura italiana a cui questo racconto è dedicato.

G is for Genepy

Elda's Genepy

Our friend Elda has recently gifted us with a bottle of her own artisan Genepy. As this is a traditional Northwestern Alpine liquor, this is what we are sharing with you today.

Piedmont's very diverse landscape can be  divided in layers: a crown of mountains - the Alps, a ring of hills - where our wines and truffles are from, the plain with the longest Italian river, the Po and the lakes flow. This rich diversity in our landscapes generates an amazing variety of climates and biodiversity,  and consequently, of both natural and artisan products.

Seasonality is another key word whenever we are talking of our local products, because wines, cheeses and local dishes are forced to follow the four distinct season Piedmont enjoys every year.

This is why we love to say that in our region, fashion and food together follow the seasons 😁 

So, it doesn't come as a surprise that the very first Italian National Park - Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso (established back in 1922) is also located here in Piedmont where we have always felt a deep connection to nature and its rhythms. 

Genepy is a traditional product of the Western side of Piedmont and can also be produced in our neighboring Valle D'Aosta region.

It is made only from specific  and locally grown varieties of the Artemisia genus, a medicinal herb  or shrub of the family of mugwort, sagebrush and wormwood. One of these local varieties is called Genepi because it is used to make this liquor.

These are short, hard herbaceous plants that grow up among the rocks near where glaciers start, at 2000/2700 m or 6561/8858 ft. These short shrubs are 5 to 20 cm or 2 to 8 in tall and follow a quick vital cycle, so they must be picked fairly quickly, at the end of the Alpine summer.

Rosolio or Vermouth's nonno

Ph. by Monica Bessone

It is no secret that the Savoy kings loved Rosolio so much they had made it the official royal liqueur up to 1786 when King Victor Amadeus III loved vermouth better and officially changed the royal production. 

Rosolio in all its variants is one of those products that have always unified Italy even before the unification in 1861. Despite the many versions of this distilled elixir through the boot, only Piedmont Rosolio was recognized by the Italian government as an official traditional local product.

This liqueur was born during the Renaissance and became more common once refined sugar became readily available.  It followed Catherine De' Medici to France while in Italy, it was made mainly in convents where the nuns knew how to extract the herb, flower and fruit essences to make liquors. Later, it was also made in private homes, where rose petals were macerated in a 50% alcohol and 50% sugar solution. Rosolio has always been a good base to make other liquors too.

The first Rosolio di Torino recipe was published in French in 1733. Around 1750s the Cinzano brothers start the first largest production of Rosolio and in the 19th century, Mr Carpano starts labelling his bitter rosolio Vermouth.

Its name seems to derive from the Latin 'ros solis' or sun dew and it literally means 'rose oil'; in fact, Rosolio has an intense yet delicate aroma, yet a stickiness similar to the oil one, making it ideal to close a rich meal such as the traditional Italian ones.

With the passing of the time, Rosolio became THE ladies' liqueur par excellence for its elegance, smoothness and moderate alcohol content (between 25% and 35%) and it was officially offered to all family gatherings up to being considered a good luck harbinger when drunk by newlyweds.

5 Holiday wines

For all our friends, Piedmont lovers and Italian wine fans here's our short list to make any celebration the best with our Piedmont wines!
These are THE wines we drink in our homes with our families and friends over the Holidays and to celebrate our most important days, so take note and look them up at your local wine shop. Remember to stock up on a few bottles next time you hop over to Piedmont 😉

Nonno's grignolino

The Moncalvo area in the Monferrato wine dristrict is rather rich of farms and interesting locations for both wine lovers and foodies, therefore our tour had to visit at our friend Stefano's family vineyard. Yes, Stefano is one lucky man whose grandpa had a beautiful country house, the kind you only see on decor and design magazines and he also happened to own the "perfect vineyard"!

Stefano Girola of Poderi Girola winery showing us la Sossala

Asti's Golden Pitcher

September is the month to be in Asti, Piedmont, NW Italy - the town where Asti Spumante the delish Italian bubbly wine is from, because there are many food and wine events culminating with the oldest Italian palio, in the third week-end (yes, older than the Siena one)!

The weeks before the palio there are: the Douja D'Or wine festival and the Sagra delle Sagre or Food Festival of the Food Festivals, definitely a name that resonates with many foodies:P

In the local dialect Douja D'Or indicates the traditional terracotta pitcher where wine was served, d'or means golden. This is a national wine competition that takes place every year for about 10 days in Asti and that awards the best Italian wines paired with the best local foods. 

Only DOC and DOCG wines can take part and Douja is a truly epicurean competition as the wines are submitted anonymously to the expert tasters who judge them for their sensorial qualities: color, bouquet and aroma. Only the top scoring wines are awarded the golden pitcher - Douja D'Or - a title approved by the Italian Ministry of Agricultural Food and Forestry Policies.

WineWed damigiana

Damigiana sizes

Buying wine is one the most pleasant things in life as it usually gives us the expectation for something nice. As in most places, in Italy, people normally get their wine in: 

1. grocery stores. This is generally for the average and last minute consumption
2. wine shops or enoteca when looking for higher quality and boutique wines 
3. many people go directly to the producer's and buy boxes of 6 bottles of their favorite wine 
4. and finally there are people who buy lose wine in damigiana!

Darryl's perspective on wines

This week guest post is by Darryl Baldwin who was a guest at Turin Epicurean Capital 2014.

After working in the City of London for 40 years trading, selling and marketing the whole gamut of financial instruments for various international banks, he and his wife stumbled across a piece of Paradise. It was February 2007 and he had decided the time was right for a bit of permanent R&R. Within a few months they had bought a house in Neive and properly discovered Nebbiolo. They built a grandchildren attractor (swimming pool) and within 2 years, when it was a proven success, decided to sell the house in the UK, help the kids and settle permanently in Italy. They have never looked back and are in love with the wine, the food, the culture and the family-centric approach to life. Slowly but surely they  are educating their English friends that they live in Piemonte where the best wines in Italy (if not the world) are made and not in Tuscany which is the only region they appear to know. You can follow Darryl on his blog Piemonte mio

the Malvasia winery

In Turin, 2015 was the year of Malvasia di Castelnuovo Don Bosco produced by Cascina Gilli. 

We have already presented Malvasia as a Piedmontese wine in general, but this specific variant by this small local producer is so unique that it deserves a post on its own.

Riikka, Langhetta on high heels

One of the purposes of the Turin Epicurean Capital round tables is to share our local resources and culture both from the insider's point of view and the external one. This is how we got in touch with Riikka Sukula of the Sukula boutique winery in Serralunga D'Alba, about ninety minutes driving from Turin.

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

Asti Docg aka Spumante

Asti Docg label by Romano Levi

Asti Docg or more commonly Spumante as it is usually called in Italy, is the sparkling sweet wine par excellence!

It is made of Moscato bianco grapes and it is low in alcohol; in fact, unlike champagne, its bubbles are produced in a single tank fermentation following the Charmat method. Its sweetness is retained through a complex filtration process. 

The same wine region produces another sweet wine with the same Moscato bianco grapes: Moscato d'Asti which is only slightly frizzante or sparkling. 

Lessona Doc THE wine of Italy

Lessona Doc Label

This week we're talking about Lessona the smallest DOC which is produced solely in the Lessona area. Lessona is a tiny village near Biella, where Ermenegildo Zegna is based and it is about 1h driving north from Turin.

Piedmont ice wine!!

Ice wine from Chiomonte in Piedmont - yes, we make ice wine too here :D

The Chiomonte vineyards are the highest in Europe

Vin Brule'

As it's rather cold, we're starting this week wine posts with Vin Brule' which is similar to mulled wine but different ;)

Vin Brule is the ideal drink to sip while browsing through the Christmas markets

Alta Langa Docg the wine with its own glass

Today we're talking about Alta Langa DOCG in all its variants!

This wine takes the name from the Langhe wine district - now a Unesco world heritage site! - is a hilly region within Piedmont, near the Alba province, south of Turin.

Alta Langa Docg production area in Piedmont

Alta Langa DOCG: the Piedmont pride!

Roero DOCG an evocative wine

Roero Docg

As a wine, Roero is fragrant, perfumed and elegant.

It is of an appealing deep ruby red and its flavors are rather evocative!

Its dry and warm bouquet almost becomes velvety making it an ideal wine for many dishes.

Its noninvasive structure and limited tannins allow us to pair it also with flavorful dishes.

In order to produce the DOCG variant, Roero must age 1 year in good quality wood barriques.

Roero variants

By law, Roero wine must be made with at least 95% of Nebbiolo wine and 5% of other indigenous grapes.

Regular Roero wine must be aged for 20 months, starting on November 1 of the harvest year. For 6 month it should be aged in woods.

In order to gain the RISERVA status, it must be aged for 12 additional months.

Both variants have a 12.5% of alcohol content.

Bramaterra DOC

Bramaterra DOC label

Bramaterra can easily be considered the intro to the Nebbiolo variety. It is produced on the western hills where by Ghemme, Gattinara and Boca are made, in the Novara area, in N. Piedmont.

On this side of the region the Nebbiolo based reds are lighter and fresher than their S. Piedmont counterparts.

Because of the pre-alpine climate, the Nebbiolo distinctive tannins can't fully ripen and the over-all taste isn't always pleasant; therefore, the government regulations of DOC wines allow a blend of up to 30% of Croatina and up to 20% of Uva Rara or Vespolina (genetically related to Nebbiolo).