Suzanne Hoffman's guest post

Suzanne Hoffman is a reformed attorney with a passion for food, wine and travel; she spent most of her life in Switzerland and is now back to Vail Valley, Colorado. Since 1999 she's been frequently traveling to Piedmont as she fell in love with the land, the food, the wine culture and the people who make it. She is the author of The Wine Families, a weekly column on the Vail Daily and her current project is Le Donne di Piemonte or Piedmont Women, a book about wine-making women of the Langhe-Roero wine disctrict in Piedmont.

Shelves of Castelmagno cheese aging not far from where cows, sheep and goats graze in the alpeggi of Castelmagno

Bettelmatt a VERY rare cheese

Bettelmatt fire brand with the edelweiss

Erbaluce di Caluso: fairy tale wine

Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG is one of the 7 Italian vine varieties whose name is strictly connected to its territory, as it is made ONLY in the Canavese area, near Turin. It is an amazing white wine, deep and complex at the same time. 

The first records about its production date back to 1606 and it's also one of the first Italian wines to get the DOC certification in 1967, finally upgraded to DOCG in 2010!

It can be sweet or dry and take on different "shapes": still, sparkling, passito (raisinated).

Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG comes in 3 variants

Raleigh Hussung guest post

Raleigh Hussung is the owner of Love From Italia an online food business born out of her love for Italy and its flavors.

The Eternal City and Olio Nuovo…

Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe

Bruss the cheese spread with grappa

Bruss is a fermented cheese spread made with grappa, typically produced in the Upper Langhe area. Apparently, its name comes from the local dialect and it means brucia or it burns because of the reaction everybody gets when they eat it ;)

It is so pungent that it gave origin to a local proverb: "only love is stronger than Bruss (cheese)".

Bruss cheese

Brachetto: the aphrodisiac wine!

Brachetto is still pretty much unknown outside of Italy and yet, it is quite a fun and medium-bodied wine with aromas of black raspberries and black cherries with notes of tar, clove and flowers, like violets and orchids! Some varieties present traces of sweetness while others are medium-sweet; it can be still or frizzante - sparkling. The low alcohol content, around 5.5, allows you to easily drink the whole bottle if you are in the mood!

This wine is perfect for desserts, especially the locally produced chocolate.

Different Brachetto bottles

Dawn Olsen's food reminiscences

Enjoy this guest post by Dawn Olsen, photographer and author of Candidly Clyde. Dawn's photographs and writing are powerful like her personality and this guest post is full of flavors and images.

Sometimes, it's not just the food that makes a good meal. Sometimes, it's about the company

Testun a stubborn cheese!

Testun wrapped in pressed Nebbiolo grapes

Today we're presenting Testun PAT which in the local Piedmontese dialect means both "big head" and "stubborn". It is called this way because this cheese looks rather hard and compact due to its minimum 4 months of aging process. This is a traditional product of the mountain areas of the Cuneo province, near the Tanaro River.

Nebbiolo!!

Happy WineWed with Nebbiolo!

Nebbiolo grapes

Nebbiolo production area

                                                                        Nebbiolo is a DOC red wine that the Guardian calls the godfather of Italian reds!                                                                                                                                                                    It is one of the staple reds from Piedmont, a symbol of the wine-making tradition and refined wine culture of our region. Nebbiolo vines are planted only on 3% of the total Piedmont territory, in late-ripening vineyards, mostly on the Barolo and Barbaresco hills, where the fall fog - nebbia, wraps its grapes. 

Mara LeGrand guest post

After a career in Public Health Education, Holistic Health, Nutrition, and Ayurvedic Medicine, Mara LeGrand took a leap into the world of writing and filmmaking. In the past ten years she has written 8 original scripts, several health related books, short stories, a trilogy of magical realism with wild mustangs for young adults, a series of books about local farming for young children as well as a book of poetry. She Co-Produced, produced films and wore many hats till producing, writing, directing and filming, two award winning documentaries. Heart & Soil, an inspiring film about local, sustainable agriculture and Wild Horses In Winds of Change. 

Mara will take part to our event this coming September and will collect new footage for her next work!

Enjoy her post!

Montebore cheese

    Aged Montebore cheese

As promised, today we are talking about Montebore cheese from the Alessandria area, in Piedmont. This cheese has a very long history dating back to 300 A.D. In 1489 it was the cheese of choice, and also the only cheese served at the wedding of Ludovoco Sforza's son wedding with Isabel d'Aragon. Leonardo Da Vinci who organized organized both the banquet and the single shows accompanying each course, picked this cheese because it looks like a wedding cake! 

Timorasso DOC

Timorasso DOC Festival

Yes, another wine with its own event! It will be this coming Sunday, in Tortona in the Alessandria area, in Eastern Piedmont, about 1h30 driving from Turin. This event is called Quatar Pass Per Timurass or in standard Italian: Quattro passi per Timorasso - hopping around Timorasso.

This is a Slow Food event involving the best local wineries to give the guests the chance to taste their Timorasso DOC variants paired with the local specialties.

Paolo Rigiroli's Truffle Passion

This week guest post is by Paolo Rigiroli, author of Quatro Fromaggio and also guest of our event in early September here in Turin!
Paolo was born and raised in Italy where he took his M.S. in electronic engineering and biomedical technology. A scientist at heart, he turned food blogger after moving to Vancouver where he has been living since 2001.
Enjoy Paolo's delish post about truffles, one the main ingredients of the Piedmont cuisine :P

Cream and Truffle Pappardelle or Pappardelle Panna e Tartufo