We went to the village of Barolo yesterday to update our photos of Osteria Barolando, a new entry in our travel app, Piedmont Wine Food and More…. Owner Lidia and her daughter Francesca are great hosts with a growing, well chosen wine list, prime location in the centre of the village along with great home made local food.

We were lucky to catch the chef cutting the "hand cut tajarin" the classic pasta of the Langhe

Tajarin with Ragu

Robert's favorite, Vitello Tonnato, made withOUT mayonnaise

If you're in Barolo stop by grab a table outside and have a great meal or aperitivo while watching all the comings and goings in the centre of town

On Sunday (the 14th of April) sap was flowing from almost every vine in Neive

A little speck of sun

Then on Monday, the moment everyone is waiting for, the official start of spring "bud break"

With all the rain and now temp's in the mid 70's ( 23 C.) the cover crops between the rows of vines is growing fast

Spring 2013 has begun. The fruit trees are starting to flower and the buds on the hazelnuts trees are almost ready to pop.

Cottà is back on her princess balcony with the newly planted Primuli flowers enjoying the sun after a long winter.

The restaurants and wine bars have all been busy planting their flower pots in time for Easter.

A lot of bottling is done in February throughout the wine region. Leslie is helping Ornella bottle her Rose, Chardonnay and Dolcetto. To speed up the process Ornella brings in a mobile bottling rig. At 1500 to 2000 Thousand bottles per hour once everything is set up things can be a little hectic but the day sure goes by fast, The bottles are loaded into cages that hold about 450 bottles then back into the winery for the next step labelling.
Four bottles at a time it's amazing how fast you go through a pallet of bottles which hold about 1300 bottles.


With the lights of Neive in the background the last bottles are loaded at 8:30 after almost 15,000 bottles of wine the job is done.

The main square in Montpellier even in February theres lots of activity
Their people mover in action, a great way to get around this town of 255,000.

Apparently 50° clears out the square after dinner
Lots to see in this town made for walkers

Wouldn't be France with out a Triumphal arch
Wow the Saint Clément Aqueduct built in the 18th century.

We fell in love with a new wine region (new to us) thanks to our friend bill who along with his wife escaped from Minnesota to southern France.
Bill knows the area well making it very easy to find good producers and their wines.

Robert showing off his new 400mm lens.