Barolo

It took one hour by train from Cannes to San Remo in Italy , where we picked up the rental car, had lunch, and then headed towards Barolo in the Piemonte Province a couple of hours south of Turin.

We stopped for a swim in Imperia, as we would not have that opportunity for a while heading away from the coast.

We had bought a road map of Italy, but Barolo wasn't on the map, and we just couldn't find any signs showing us the way, so we asked at a gas station, and found it by help of a drawing after the guy had called is Mum asking for help - good old pen and paper!

Barolo is a picturesque village with 800 inhabitants  located in a valley and surrounded by vineyards and other medieval villages. Barolo is a small part of the larger Langhe wine growing region, and it is world famous for the red wines made here from the nebbiolo grape.

We stayed in a large room with a kitchenette at the Vicolo del Pozzo just behind a wine shop, and was offered a glass of wine upon arrival.  We wandered around town, and had a nice dinner of veal and rabbit both cooked in Barolo wine - very tasty.

The following morning we walked the 10 km return through vineyards to Monforte, another medieval village, had lunch on the town square, and bought a bottle of vine at a vineyard on the way back to Barolo. Wonderful views along the way.

Well back, we went for a drive, stocked up in a supermarket, and bought a bottle of wine at the Grand Cru Cannubis winery.

The following morning we visited the Barolo Wine Museum www.wimubarolo.it located in the former castle of the Marquis Carlo Falletti, and it was a  very interesting and interactive experience.

'The birth of great wine is the result of the incessant work of nature, in a lengthy and often mysterious process: all things considered, it involves the formation of a small universe, the creation of a living being. And while many different factors contribute - the heat of the sun and the cycles of the moon, the characteristics of the soil and the work of man - time is what marks the life cycle of the wine and brings the grapes to ripeness, commands the harvesting and crushing of the grapes and governs the transit of the must from the bat to the bottle. And time is the essence when the grape must rest in the barrels: the patient wait for the fermentation process to allow the wine to express it's full character'.  Amen!

'In the history of Western civilization wine has always been more than just a drink. At the centre of traditions and legends, it is even a metaphor for life. Wine has made it's mark in every era. It has accompanied the history of mankind since ancient times: from Anatolia to Mesopotamia, from Ancient Egypt to Greece, throughout the Roman Empire, Christianity and the Middle Ages up to the nineteenth century' - Barolo Wine Museum Brochure.

The first lovers of wine were the Gods and Goddesses!

Barolo also has a crock screw museum (embed link www.museodeicavatappi) where we saw this very for us relevant t-shirt.

Alora, enough wine for now, and on to Priocca about 50 km north east of Barolo to start our week of volunteering in an ecological hazelnut plantation.