November 24

We drove down to Alba today from the Pigeonniere in Change on the southern border of Burgundy. Packed up early and had a winery tour with our host, who was, of course, a winemaker and grower as well. He had told us about his business when we first got there, but we kept pushing back the visit until it finally came down to doing it at 9 o’clock in the morning the day we were leaving. His winery dates back a few generations. Here’s some pics from our Pigeonniere in Change, the winemaker's place and other stuff. 

Our humble pigeon's roost.

 The town of Change, which may be talking of our visit for some time to come.

The winemaker's (and our manager's) winery in the house of his winemaker ancestors from the 17th century.

Big wooden doors.

Fermentation vats of fiberglass.

 There's Christophe and Darren by the grape press.

 Darren drinks at the mineral springs along the road.

 Darren by the placards for the winery, old and new.

 The first date of the winery here in Change.

 This pic has not been used for a while. Note the vibrant mold communities thriving here!

 Here's Christophe posing with an old handmade bottle, still unopened.

Then we took off and drove through a lot of very big, long and expensive tunnels running under the alps between southern France and Italy, some of them several miles long. One of them cost 35 euros to drive into it, and another 5 or 6 to get out?!?! They’re trying to pay it off, and it’s big! It’s called Frejus. Scary tunnel. 


When we got into Alba we started with a winery visit; Ceretto. A huge winery with a super modern, glitzy facility and a nervous russian tour guide who went off on some odd tangents and didn’t seem to be breathing much. The wines were really good; Barolos, Moscato, Barbaresco. They sell a lot of wines there that they don’t make. They’re mostly all available in the states except for one aromatic after-dinner wine that has twelve different herbs infused in it. Not very expensive at all. We got one. This is the Ceretto winery, same day, new country.  

 This is a bottom photograph of the event center built out the side of the building at Ceretto. Ceretto is an EXREMELY modern and large facility for hosting events as well as winemaking. They also sell labels other than their own and are widely distributed in the US.

 The one wine of theirs you cannot find outside Italy is this aromatic Chinato, an after dinner Barolo wine infused with 12 herbs, and a favorite of mine, the Moscato d'Asti. We bought the Barolo.

 Then off to check-in at Villa La Favorita, way up on a hillside above Alba. I cannot possibly recommend Roberta and this bed and breakfast highly enough. The owner of Nutella lives next door to the villa and gets annoyed because google has his property tagged with her address, so everybody’s GPS sends them to his place. The woman is a success story. Used to be married to a dentist. Had three beautiful girls, got divorced, and renovated this old palatial buildling from the 18th century. There are various sitting rooms, dining and living room areas all over the ground floor, all decorated in the original style of the palazzo and a big industrial kitchen where she has cooking classes. Roberta lives in the back of the first floor in a thoroughly modern loft apartment really seamlessly folded into the older structure. It’s cool. 

Dined tonight on Tajarin pasta with truffles at a local restaurant and take-out place in Alba. Yum! I think the food here in Piedmont might very well be the best I have ever had anywhere. Here's a shot of the Cathedral there and a hazelnut desert. Ohhhh yeah!