Serralunga, 8 October 2012

It is 1:30.  The sun shines warmly on our terrace. Where we are seated, to our left is a tall impressive old castle and to our right are valleys with rows of grapevines creating a geometric crazy quilt.

We were in Serralunga yesterday. Our hike began here. Our long hike. Our six and one half hour hike. Thirteen kilometers. It was total immersion. At our final footstep we were covered from the knees down with the precious dirt that enables the flourishing of the nebbiolo grapes that produce the extraordinary wines. By tromping up hill and down hill, steep ascents and descents, over and over and passing through oak groves laden with truffles and past the prune plums and the hazelnuts and the walnuts and the quince and the apple and the pear and the fig and the on and on we feel that we physically know the smell and feel and taste of the area. By taste, I do not mean wine--I am a wine ninny, I love it, but know nothing--I mean the fruits we "stole" from vines and trees along the route. Lest you worry, we did not sample the unusually mushrooms growing in the boggy shade.

Our first course is a sampler plate consisting of veal two ways (chopped crudo and vitello tonnato), a crepe filled with cheese and mushroom and roasted peppers, their innards spooned with olive oil soaked chopped anchovies.  It was a plate worthy of superlatives and I will spare you my gushy prose. Our wine is made by the Trattoria Schiavenza. It is Dolcetto d'Alba, Vughera, 2010. We thought, it is a young wine. Crisp. Light. Low alcohol. It is intense, inky and a 14.50% alcohol. It is fabulous.

We await our second course of Piemontese beef cooked in Barolo.  And a ravioli of some delicious sort.

The Alba restaurant from my last entry was La Libera. Like a virtuoso, they made everything look easy and delivered a sparkling performance which was our food and eating experience.

Back to our second course. Wes's pasta is a "plin"--stuffed pasta--with veal, spinach and parmigiano filling dressed simply with butter infused with sage leaves and parmigiano. Roland--or as I have lately called him, Ba-roland--and I opted for Piemontese beef braised in Barolo wine. The juice over it is absolutely tasty in the extreme. And the beef, sliced half-inch thick is tender.  But. The nature of braised meat is that it is fully, fully cooked and not at all pink. Maybe it is a childhood thing. When I remember back on mom's beef roast, that is the texture of my beef today. I guess when it comes to beef and ovens I am more a steak guy than a braised guy. We finished our meal with "Barolo Chinotto" a "digestivo" red wine fortified with sugar, chinotto and herbs.

Nocciola in shell (hazelnut)

Our hotel, Corte Gondina in La Morra, feels like our own private villa. A courtyard is planted with a small center lawn planted with an ancient olive tree. The lawn is bordered with rectangular stones which in turn are bordered with cobblestones laid in a fan shape. On the cobblestones are tables. The tabletops are stone with silver mica flecks that glitter in the sun. On two sides of the courtyard is the three-story inn. The rooms have a continuous stone balcony with an iron railing--and chairs and tables--that overhangs the courtyard. The third side of the courtyard descends by steps to an infinity pool. The fourth side is tall hedges. Today while sitting in the courtyard the owner/proprietor removed the umbrellas and the chaises. He looked at us and said, "summer is over".

Marlow on behalf of myself, Wes and Roland
Serralunga, Italy
8 October 2012, Monday
3:20 p.m.
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