Month
September 2025
After breakfast, we drove around Langhe to take in the countryside before stopping in La Morra, one of the larger villages in the Barolo area. It’s a cute little village. Wine tourism is clearly an important industry for the village—they have more enotecas than the resident population could possibly support—but it didn’t seem overrun with tourists, even on a Sunday. And the hilltop views are pretty great too.
Posted on September 28, 2025
Adam and Natalie are hosting a tour group later this week. Heather and I will be joining the first two days of the tour before splitting off to do our own thing, so we’re staying at the tour hotel, Castel di Guarene (https://www.castellodiguarene.com). It’s fancier than we’d usually pick, but it’s convenient. We woke up to spectacular views of the countryside with the Alps in the distance. I can see why they chose this hotel for the tour!
Posted on September 28, 2025
More photos from Grasso Fratelli. All the wines were good, but the 2015 Grasso Fratelli Barbaresco Riserva excellent. A real stand out.
Posted on September 28, 2025
After a leisurely lunch, we visited Grasso Fratelli, a small family owned winery whose owners Adam & Natalie are friends with. And when I say small, I mean very small. All the winemaking is done by brothers Luigi and Alfredo, while their niece Eliza handles the business end of things. We walked their vineyards, toured the winery with its 50 hectoliter boti (giant barrels), then tasted their wines. It was a fantastic time.
Posted on September 28, 2025
We had planned to taste at Produttori del Barbaresco, but they were a little busy, so we instead climbed Barbaresco Tower, directly across the street. The views of the countryside were outstanding.
Posted on September 28, 2025
We went into the village of Barbaresco to look around and found the same tractor we had seen earlier at Rabajà in the town square, delivering its grapes to Produttori del Barbaresco, the local farmer’s co-op and a very highly regarded producer of Barbaresco wines. The grapes are weighed and de-stemmed right there on the square.
Posted on September 28, 2025
I was surprised to learn that Joe’s house is directly across the road from Rabajà (pronounced rah-bah-YA in the Piedmontese dialect), one of the most well-known and prized vineyards in Barbaresco. Harvest is in full swing here, and tractors and field workers everywhere—in the fields and on the roads.
Posted on September 28, 2025
Adam and Natalie were staying with their friend Joe in Barbaresco, and they offered to let us use their shower to freshen up after our travel. Barbaresco is beautiful! In addition to a hot shower, the house also had commanding views of the Barbaresco countryside. I’m told these views are protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which makes it difficult/impossible to build anything that would spoil the view.
