The idea for this particular trip to Italy, and more specifically, a day of wine exploration in and around the Barolo region, started at a wine dinner we attended back in 2024 at the Vancouver International Wine Festival. With friends, we attended a dinner paired with outstanding wines from around Piedmont and my wife and I became enamoured with the idea of traveling back to Italy and exploring some of the wines in that region. We have had some wonderful wine explorations in Burgundy and Champagne, the Okanagan, and Napa and Sonoma, and were eager to have a lovely day eating and drinking in another special place.

We secured a local guide and driver, Stefania, who arranged the details for our day with a focus of showing us a couple of smaller wineries. She met us at the train station in Asti and after some getting to know each other over an espresso she drove us to our first stop in La Morra. Luckily for us, it was day one of the nebbiolo harvest for Stroppiana. Look at all those grapes!

It had been a very damp late summer in the area so the winery’s dogs, usually getting ready for truffle hunting, were just hanging around the winery and enjoyed all the attention they were getting from my wife and me. The chocolate lab kept bringing his toy or a large stick over to us to throw for him to fetch. Not a sip of wine yet at this early morning hour and already the day was off to a wonderful start.

In the tasting room the family’s matriarch described each of the wines we sampled and we had a lovely conversation while we sampled liberally. There were a couple of revelations here. First, a new to us grape, nascetta, made a huge impression. Stroppiana only makes a small amount of this and most of it is sold very locally. It was fresh and aromatic, unlike anything I have ever tasted, and warranted a bottle purchased for later enjoyment as we explored Italy. The other thing that was remarkable was the range and nuance of their Barolo wines. In Canada, commercially there’s lots of big, heavy Barolos, but the ones we were tasting at Stroppiana had a spectrum of expression that I had never tasted before. We were really blown away by the wines, the hospitality, and also the “small world” nature of learning that a few of their wines could usually be obtained in Alberta as the only place in Canada they sent a bit to.

Fresh off that amazing tasting, our guide took us on a short driving tour of some of the small towns dotting the hills of the Barolo region. We stopped at a lookout and the scenery was absolutely stunning!

It is really hard to describe the feeling of being here. We were both nicely tipsy from amazing wines, it had blossomed into a perfect early fall day, and we were in a uniquely beautiful wine region in Italy. A true “pinch me” moment.

From this spot, you could see the entirety of the Barolo wine region. Our host pointed out towns, particular plots of well regarded grapes and wineries. All the time we stared out at amazement and enjoyed the quiet beauty looking down on a place we had heard so much about but were only now putting into tangible memories and senses.

Our next stop was for lunch in the town of Barolo where our host left us for a long, luxurious meal (Italy knows how to do this really well). She chose the exceptional La Gemella where we enjoyed a truly amazing meal and I had what was easily the best thing I ate in all of 2024 – their agnolotti.

The meal featured beautiful wine pairings from a number of smaller wineries from the area including two stunning Barolos. The appetizers of tuna and peppers, rabbit salad, tuna with a mustard sauce were a great intro to a gorgeous veal cheek dish that was braised in Barolo. I opted for a cheese course over something sweet and that was a perfect decision. Everything was perfect – they even had gluten free breadsticks for my wife.

We met up again with Stefania after our meal and went on a walking tour around the small and picturesque town of Barolo.

It was a great way to work off some calories and to take in the scenery before making our way to winery number two.

Up in the hills near Trieso we visited the Grasso winery. Stefania’s husband was here with a larger group of people just finishing up a tasting so we arrived at a perfect time with so many open bottles ready to be explored. After some extensive tasting (and re-tasting!) we both agreed that a 2015 Vallegrande barabresco was the winner. It was a stunning wine that we savoured in a beautiful rustic tasting room.

Making that experience even more enjoyable was the visit we had with Luigi, one of the brothers who owns the winery. He spoke as much English as I do Italian (which is to say, none, outside of basic pleasantries) but somehow we had a conversation with hand gestures, a little bit of google translate, showing maps to each other of where we were from, and our respective broken use of the other’s language.

And maybe when all is said and done this day was a perfect microcosm of why I love to travel. The moments like meeting Luigi, combined with tasting local food and drink, and simply getting out and feeling a place, is why I travel. This was a beautiful day all around – the wines, the people, the food – and it led us to knowing and eventually making a trip to Alberta to buy more of Stroppiana’s wines. Those wines are now awaiting an opportunity to be savoured in Saskatoon where they will be the backdrop to my wife and I reminiscing about this spectacular day, over and over.