I conclude my posts about my week in Piedmont with a run-through of the best of the wines we drank in restaurants. For the main part, my family didn't want to hear about red wines, so I turned this constraint into a private exploration of how the whites reflect terroir. My limited experience is that Chardonnay can be very special here and reflects terroir. That Riesling can be fun as well was an added bonus.
Pio Cesare, Barolo, Ornato, 2017Il Centro at Priocca offer a house Barolo by the glass. I was upgraded to a wine they usually don't offer by the glass. This is very already, showing tar and roses. A very fine drop, it's not a wine that seduces with sexiness, nor one that impresses with power or complexity, just solid presence and weight, decent plus complexity. Oak is noticeable but not intrusive.
Bovio, Langhe Chardonnay, Alessandria, 2019
I really wish I had easy access to more Piedmont/Langhe Chardonnays. This is one of the best I've tried. It comes off like a very focused Meursault, with flint and pears and very savory mushroom notes on the finish. This is one of the house wines in the Bovio restaurant in La Morra.
Renato Ratti, Langhe, Brigata, Chardonnay, 2020
Drunk at Osteria dell'Arco at Alba. This comes off rounder than the Bovio, which might have to do with the stemware, since the actual aromas and flavors suggest a racier wine: green apples and flint on the nose, grapefruit and spicy apple skin finish.
Podderi Colla, Riesling, 2018
Drunk at Real Castello, which had the smallest wine selection of all the restaurants we dined at (which is a bit glaring when you're seated at a gorgeous garden in one of the most beautiful villages in the Langhe) and where this seemed like the best white choice. I admit I kind of wavered. Colla is a venerable name that I wanted to taste, but I had no clue what their whites are like. So I wound up with a very pleasant surprise. This shows spicy apples, notes of petrol and, most prominently of all, an anise/mushroom note that just says Piedmont, to me. Dry and flavorsome, nothing like a Riesling from anywhere else.
Montaribaldi, Barbaresco, Lori Montaribaldi, 2016
A little known producer, from a Cru on the southern outskirts of the Barbaresco village that I'd never heard of. What I get from the 2016's that I've tried is that even if they're not ready for business, the balance is very obvious, and this is the case here: a very balanced wine that takes four hour and more to open up. Its fruit is red, spicy, earthy and tarry with rose petals and the tannic finish is a cruncher. It's very good once it's open.
The Montaribaldi web site explains why they don’t send samples to wine writers: they don’t believe someone who doesn’t experience Piedmont firsthand, day to day, is really qualified to score wines. Which explains why you’ve never heard of these hardliners.
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