August in Turin

Before the 2008 economical crisis Turin, just like any other Italian city looked deserted, especially on August 15 or Ferragosto!

To get a better idea of what this all Italian Mid-August phenomenon is like, and especially if you love the Italian culture and language, we invite you all to watch The Mid-August Lunch:

L = Pastiglie Leone

Just imagine if you could get candies instead of medicines, and if gummy candies had medicinal properties.... Well this is how Pastiglie Leone aka THE Turin's candies started and how they are keeping up with their philosophy. Starting by their name because pastiglie means pills 😁

Mark this candy brand down because once again it makes a great souvenir thanks to all the nice tins and colored boxes you can find virtually everywhere, not only here in Turin and in Piedmont, but all over Italy too.

Original 2006 Turin Winter Olympic Games tin by Pastiglie Leone

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.

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.

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