Gourmet tour to Piedmont with Barolo, Barbaresco, and other exclusive wines, and the rare white truffle
— Welcome to a wine tour to one of Italy’s most famous wine regions, Piedmont, “at the foot of the mountain”. It is a region that is world-famous not only for its great wines – headed by Barolo and Barbaresco – but also for its gastronomy. This is where the Slow Food movement started and it is the source for the fabled white truffle. Half a day is dedicated to the truffle, with the truffles market
Tour Highlights
- 4 nights
- Private tastings, approx. 10
- Alba
- Barolo, Barbaresco mm
- Price: [this is a sample programme]
- Magnificent lunches
- Truffle safari and truffle market
- White truffle
- Beautiful Italian landscapes and vineyards
Please Note: This Is A Sample Programme
This is a sample programme, an example. Every wine and food tour that we organise is different and specially adapted for the season and the circumstances. Details in the programme, e.g. which producers we visit, will be different each time.
- This tour is sometimes available on our scheduled wine and food tour programme
- It can be designed specifically for you as a custom made private wine tour.
Next Wine Tour To Piedmont
- This tour is currently not on our tour schedule. Contact us for information about future dates or to discuss a custom tour.
Piedmont, or Piemonte as the Italians say, is famous for its full-bodied red wines made from the nebbiolo grape. The reputation of wines like Barolo and Barbaresco reach all over the world. But Piedmont is also the source of many other wines. For example, the light and sweet sparkling wines made from muscat grapes in Asti. A delicious aperitif. Barolo and Barbaresco are among Italy’s most famous wines. These exclusive wines are elegant often with a hint of truffles on the nose. Perhaps that is because of the white truffles that can be found here.
In Italy, each region is proud of its unique local grape varieties, often not so well-known but always interesting and exciting. Here in Piedmont, you must try wines from the barbera grape, dolcetto, grignolino and many other varieties. Barolo and Barbaresco are now also on the very prestigious list of UNESCO’s World Heritage that includes some of the world’s most unique and culturally important sites.
On this tour, you will have the opportunity to taste a wide range of the wines from Piedmont, from the easy-drinking Moscato d’Asti to the complex wines of Barolo and Barbaresco and the oak-aged Barbera.
The Piedmont gastronomy is world-famous. Here you will find the famous white truffle but many other things as well. Hazelnuts are a regional speciality. They are of exceptional quality and especially rich in oil. Or the delicious incredibly tender beef from the Piedmont cattle, a special race that produces meat that is very low in fat. The best way to taste the meat is as a tartare, raw, only finely chopped with a knife and served with olive oil and some sea salt. This is the classic carne cruda. The regional cuisine also has many other things to offer. The Slow Food movement started in Piedmont and has since spread all over the world.
We will stay in the charming town of Alba. You fly into Milan and we pick you up at the central railway station in Milan Wednesday afternoon. On Sunday morning we drop you off in the same place by noon. It is easy to reach Milan through its three airports: Linate, Malpensa and Bergamo.
The tour is led by one of BKWine’s wine and travel expert guides.
Programme — Piedmont wine tour
Preliminary programme.
Contact BKWine for more details.
Sample programme
This is a sample programme, an example. You can find the wine tours currently on the schedule here, or you can explore a custom designed wine tour by contacting us.
There may be changes to some details of the programme, e.g. which wineries we visit. We put great effort into making your visits both exceptional and memorable. For this reason we often visit other than the most obvious, big-name producers (where there are often a number of guides employed). Instead we chose to give you a more unique, personal experience at our carefully selected estates, often (but not always) meeting the owner or the winemaker.
Programme overview
- Day 1, Wednesday — Arrival in Milan and then Alba
- Day 2, Thursday — The world-famous wines of Barolo in Langhe
- Day 3 — Barbaresco
- Day 4 — Truffles and Roero
- Day 5 — Heading back home
Wednesday, day 1 — Arrival in Milan and then Alba
We pick you up at 4 PM in Milan, Stazione Centrale, perhaps the most impressive train station in the world.
We have a two-hour drive before we arrive in Alba where we check in to our centrally located hotel. The evening is free for you to discover Alba. Alba is a small town with an old city centre with narrow, winding streets. There are many exciting restaurants, from down-to-earth pizzerias to gourmet restaurants.
From our hotel, you can stroll to the main square where you will find people, cafés and restaurants. Perhaps you will start with an aperitivo at one of the many cafés. And then continue along the narrow alleys to this tour’s first Italian meal? Why not finish the evening with a grappa? A good idea if you have been overwhelmed by an unending sequence of delicious Italian dishes at dinner.
Thursday, day 2 — The world-famous wines of Barolo
Today we head for the small village that carries the weight of the name Barolo. We’re moving into the hilly landscape of nebbiolo.
The nebbiolo grapes grow on impressively steep slopes. There are not many tractors in the vineyards; most of the work is done by hand. Many of the vineyards are small in size. The wines are delicately hand-crafted and the harvest that usually happens in mid-October is done by hand. Nebbiolo ripens late. Barolo has been called The King of the Wines of Italy. It was one of the first to reach the highest quality level, called DOCG for Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita.
We will visit three Barolo wineries. They will explain the secrets behind these great wines. We will visit producers like Azienda Vitivinicola Sobrero that was founded in 1940 by the father of the current owners and winemakers, Settimo and Pierfranco Sobrero. They have 16 hectares of vineyards in Castiglione Falletto, in the heart of the Barolo district. Another producer on the programme is Ciabot Berton in the well-known village of La Morra. The views of the Barolo vineyards all around are stunning. The estate has some of Barolo’s best plots here in La Morra.
Our lunch will be delicious and typical Italian meal together with Giovanni Angeli at Massolino in Serralunga d’Alba.
Late afternoon we return to Alba. The evening is free to explore another Italian restaurant. Perhaps you will start with a glass of vermouth (Martini, Cinzano etc)? The very first vermouth was made in Turin in 1786.
Friday, day 3 — Barbaresco
Barbaresco is just a short distance north-east of Alba. It measures only a third of the size of Barolo and there are mostly small producers here.
We will visit Bera in Barbaresco, a family winery in the village of Neviglie with a young, enthusiastic and very talented winemaker. Very exciting wines.
Lunch today will be at Castello di Neive, an impressive estate. It is a landmark old castle and the family has a long history in the region. In addition to red wines, they also make splendid whites with the Arneis grape. For lunch, we can expect different dishes of local specialities.
The afternoon visit will be at Cantina Rizzi, also in Barbaresco. This is one of the quality pioneers in the region. They planted their first vines in 1974. Over the years, the vineyards area has been expanded and now includes many of the most famous cru locations, such as cru giacone and cru bricco di neive.
Late afternoon we’re back at our hotel in Alba. The evening is free. Perhaps you will try a creamy risotto for dinner? In Piedmont, they eat more rice than pasta. When we drove from Milan to Alba, we passed some of the rice paddy fields.
Saturday, day 4 — Truffles market, truffles safari, and truffles lunch, and Roero
Alba is the capital of the truffles. “The wine truffle from Alba” is the name one often gives to the rare Tuber magnatum pico.
First, we will visit the famous truffles market in Alba, Mercato del Tartufo, where you can also find other delicacies than the expensive truffle: cheese, charcuterie, oil, mushrooms, hazelnut etc. Much of it actually prepared with truffles.
The scent almost stuns you when you enter the market. The sellers stand shoulder to shoulder presenting their gems. They will offer you a close-up look and a sniff if you are interested and want to check the quality. If you want you can, of course, buy some truffles to bring home. Count on it between one and three euros, per gram. A normal size tuber magnatum weighs in at around 60 grams but there are both bigger and smaller.
You can settle for just some olive oil flavoured with truffles, or truffles pâté or another local speciality, the hazelnuts. Or just a glass of wine. The wine bar covers the full length of one side of the market. Just watching the bustle is an experience worth coming for. (Entry to the market is a few euros. You buy the ticket yourself at the market.)
After having looked at (and smelled) this rarity all morning it is time for our lunch. We will have the opportunity to taste this unique delicacy. You will taste it and you will see how it is used in the local gastronomy. And of course, how it pairs with the wines. We will have our luxurious truffles lunch at the beautiful Osteria la Madernassa in the village of Castelrotto. The restaurant has two Michelin stars. We can expect a top-quality lunch.
But before lunch, we will have a mini-truffles safari where we go out into the woods together with the truffle hunter and his dogs. An exciting experience. We end the day by visiting one of the top producers in the district of Roero.
Late afternoon we return to the hotel in Alba. The evening is free to continue to explore Alba.
Sunday, day 5 — Heading back home
After breakfast, we load our luggage into the bus and head back to Milan. We will arrive there no later than 12 noon. Individual return home from there.
There may be changes to some details of the programme, e.g. which wineries we visit. We put great effort into making your visits both exceptional and memorable. For this reason we often visit other than the most obvious, big-name producers (where there are often a number of guides employed). Instead we chose to give you a more unique, personal experience at our carefully selected estates, often (but not always) meeting the owner or the winemaker.
Go For It!
We’d love to have you with us.
More travel information
Here are some useful pages and guides about this travel destination:
Even more info
We have written a lot about Piedmont and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.
- Read more about travelling in the Piedmont wine region on our wine travel blog.
- You can also find more information on BKWine Magazine on the wines from Piedmont, our online wine magazine.
- Our YouTube videos on Piedmont.
The Piedmont Wine Book
“Piedmont, the wines, the region, the producers is an indispensable guide for those who want to know more about this world-famous wine region, its wines and winemakers. It is part of the series Guide to the World of Wine and is written by Britt Karlsson and Per Karlsson, multiple award-winning wine book authors and wine tour operators. The book is in easy-to-read pocket format and richly illustrated, but at the same time full of facts, written by experts in the field.” Said about our book on the Piedmont.
The book series “Guide to the world of wine” has won first prize in the prestigious Gastronomic Literature Awards in Sweden in the category “travel guides”.
We have written a modern guide to the Piedmont and the region’s wines so you can hardly find any tour operator more familiar with the wine, the food and the gastronomy of this beautiful Italian region.
More wine books
We have written more than ten wine books. They have won both national and international wine writing awards.
No other wine tour organiser has a comparable knowledge, competence and experience.
Tour Details — Piedmont Wine Tour
Dates: [this is a sample programme]
Price per person: [this is a sample programme]
Single room supplement: [this is a sample programme]
Sample programme
This is a sample programme, an example. You can find the wine tours currently on the schedule here, or you can explore a custom designed wine tour by contacting us.
ADJUST TOUR DETAILS AS NEEDED, LUNCHES DINNERS ETC ETC ETC
Included in the price:
- 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast in good quality 4-star hotel in Alba
- Meals as described in the programme above (*):
- 2 gastronomic multi-course lunches with local specialities including tastings of different wines at a wine estate or local restaurant
- 1 exclusive lunch with white truffle, including wines, at Osteria la Madernassa with 2 Michelin stars
- Start and end point: Milan
- Bus transport during the whole trip
- All vineyard and winery visits
- Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 per day
- Interpretation from Italian as needed, though some visits may be in English
- Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide
(*) See below for more important information on our meals.
Not included:
- Travel (flights etc) to the destination and back to your home location.
You are responsible for organising your travel to and from Milan yourself.
If you would like assistance organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.
We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time. It is a very interesting place and well worth some regular, non-wine related tourism too. We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights as needed.
For this tour to take place we must have a minimum of 4 participants registered by the “book before” date. Maximum number of tour participants: 8.
Book This Tour
Book before: [this is a sample programme]
Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of [sample programme, this varies by trip]. Full payment should be received at the latest [sample programme, usually one month or 60 days, depending on the trip] before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.
It is important that you read our travel booking terms and conditions.
We also invite you to read more on why you should travel with BKWine, about customer protection, and about what you can expect from our wine tours in the section below “More on our wine tours”.
You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:
- phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
- Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
- email: info@bkwine.com, or use the contact form below
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More on our wine tours
Why travel with BKWine?
We are Britt and Per Karlsson. We are specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also experts in wine in general. We are internationally published wine writers and have written ten award-winning wine books.
No other tour operator has a comparable knowledge and experience of wine, wine regions, wine tourism and gourmet travel.
We have organised hundreds of wine and food tours, and this is what we love to do. We take it very seriously – it is not a sideline or a hobby – and what we want more than anything is to share all these wonderful experiences with you.
All our tours are led and managed by guides who have in-depth wine knowledge, and in many cases we lead the tours ourselves.
Read more on why you should choose BKWine for your wine and food tour.
Thousands of happy customers
Over the years, thousands of wine lovers have travelled with us. Many come back to tour again and again with BKWine to new wine regions. Our record-breaking client has been on more than ten BKWine tours. We are happy and proud to have such faithful customers.
Read more on what travellers have said about our tours.
Awards and Mentions
We’re pleased and proud to have received many accolades, including:
- “World’s Top Wine Tours”, Travel+Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
- “Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
- “Recommended Wine Tours”, Munskänkarna, the world’s biggest wine appreciation association
- “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year”, Gourmand International awards, and many other book prizes
- Three OIV book awards, International Organisation of Vine and Wine
- “Wine Personality of the Year”, an honour bestowed on Britt Karlsson by Munskänkarna in 2011, the world’s biggest wine appreciation association
- Inclusion on the Wine Media Power List, by Wine Business International magazine
About the wine producers and wineries we visit
Our aim is for you to experience some of the very best and most interesting aspects of the wine world, in terms of wine and food.
We put great effort into creating outstanding winery visits, and in this way we are quite different to many wine tour organisers. It is not always the most renowned, internationally known estates that offer the best experiences. Organising a wine tour featuring famous names of the wine world is relatively easy: it is merely a question of making lists and ticking boxes. On those kind of “bucket list” wine tours, you rarely meet the winemaker or the owner. You will simply be one of thousands of visitors they receive each year.
We do things differently. With BKWine Tours, you will meet the people behind the label, often the winemakers and/or the owners. Thanks to them, you will have a unique, truly personal experience and an insight into the wine world that no one else can offer. When you travel with BKWine, you are more like a special guest than a tourist.
We have personal connections and unparalleled knowledge thanks to more than 20 years as wine journalists, with 10 wine books published, and as wine tour organisers with more than 30 years’ experience. You can be sure of getting the best wine travel experiences with BKWine Tours.
Read more on the wine producers and wineries we visit.
A true gourmet experience: food and gastronomy
For us, wine and food are intimately linked, and this is a fundamental part of our wine travel philosophy. For this reason, a wine tour with BKWine is always an outstanding culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A BKWine tour is a gastronomic voyage that explores the deep relationship between food and wine.
Read more On Meals: Food and Gastronomy on Our Tours.
Customer Protection, Financial Travel Guarantee, and Terms and Conditions
You can always feel safe when you book your tour with BKWine. BKWine has a bonded bank guarantee that gives full protection according to EU and Swedish law. BKWine is a Swedish limited company and as such is regulated by strict rules.
Read more on Customer Protection, Financial Travel Guarantee. and our Terms and Conditions.
When you book a tour it is important that you read the terms and conditions. BKWine’s booking terms and conditions follow the guidelines developed by the Consumer Protection Agency.
Health, vaccination and allergies
Our tours have no particular health requirements although inevitably we will be walking a certain amount in wine cellars and vineyards. Sensible footwear is a must.
Most of our travel destinations have no particular health guidelines or requirements for vaccinations or medical certificates, but if in doubt, you should always consult a medical professional, vaccination centre or relevant embassy in your country of origin.
We can always accommodate food allergies. However, in order for us to manage such requests you must let us know about any allergies before the tour starts.
Read more in our FAQ and in our Terms and Conditions.
Travel insurance
BKWine does not sell travel insurance. If you want travel insurance, check if your regular home insurance policy includes some kind of travel insurance, or contact your regular insurance company or a travel insurance specialist.
Custom Tours
We also offer custom wine and food tours if you want to travel on different dates, or if you want something different to what we currently offer on our scheduled tours. This tailor-made service can be offered for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.
Important information
Our groups are always small. The number of people in the group may vary. The maximum can range from 8 to around 20; check the details in each programme. But our groups are always modest in size. This is important because it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.
Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!
You are expected to organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours, but once you are at the location, we take care of everything.
For more inspiration
Read our wine travel blog. For more, read our online wine magazine the BKWine Magazine with articles from all over the wine world.
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