Suzanne Hoffman's guest post

Suzanne Hoffman is a reformed attorney with a passion for food, wine and travel; she spent most of her life in Switzerland and is now back to Vail Valley, Colorado. Since 1999 she's been frequently traveling to Piedmont as she fell in love with the land, the food, the wine culture and the people who make it. She is the author of The Wine Families, a weekly column on the Vail Daily and her current project is Le Donne di Piemonte or Piedmont Women, a book about wine-making women of the Langhe-Roero wine disctrict in Piedmont.

Shelves of Castelmagno cheese aging not far from where cows, sheep and goats graze in the alpeggi of Castelmagno

Bettelmatt a VERY rare cheese

Bettelmatt fire brand with the edelweiss

Erbaluce di Caluso: fairy tale wine

Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG is one of the 7 Italian vine varieties whose name is strictly connected to its territory, as it is made ONLY in the Canavese area, near Turin. It is an amazing white wine, deep and complex at the same time. 

The first records about its production date back to 1606 and it's also one of the first Italian wines to get the DOC certification in 1967, finally upgraded to DOCG in 2010!

It can be sweet or dry and take on different "shapes": still, sparkling, passito (raisinated).

Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG comes in 3 variants

Raleigh Hussung guest post

Raleigh Hussung is the owner of Love From Italia an online food business born out of her love for Italy and its flavors.

The Eternal City and Olio Nuovo…

Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe

Bruss the cheese spread with grappa

Bruss is a fermented cheese spread made with grappa, typically produced in the Upper Langhe area. Apparently, its name comes from the local dialect and it means brucia or it burns because of the reaction everybody gets when they eat it ;)

It is so pungent that it gave origin to a local proverb: "only love is stronger than Bruss (cheese)".

Bruss cheese

Brachetto: the aphrodisiac wine!

Brachetto is still pretty much unknown outside of Italy and yet, it is quite a fun and medium-bodied wine with aromas of black raspberries and black cherries with notes of tar, clove and flowers, like violets and orchids! Some varieties present traces of sweetness while others are medium-sweet; it can be still or frizzante - sparkling. The low alcohol content, around 5.5, allows you to easily drink the whole bottle if you are in the mood!

This wine is perfect for desserts, especially the locally produced chocolate.

Different Brachetto bottles

Dawn Olsen's food reminiscences

Enjoy this guest post by Dawn Olsen, photographer and author of Candidly Clyde. Dawn's photographs and writing are powerful like her personality and this guest post is full of flavors and images.

Sometimes, it's not just the food that makes a good meal. Sometimes, it's about the company