We first met Giuseppe last fall at Eataly in Torino. He was pouring his
white wines, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, in the wine shop for
the customers to taste. We liked both of the Whites alot and bought some
that day. Last Friday, we finally made it to the winery and got to taste
all the wines and see the cellar. The winery has been in the family
for many generations and is today run by Giuseppe and his family.

We first tried some tried some young Barbera d'Asti right from the Botte
then finished our tasting upstairs where it was warmer.

Giuseppe's wines are a great example of a gem of winery, along with it's vineyards,
situated outside of the well known zones of Barbaresco and Barolo.
He pours alot of energy and unique ideas into varietals like
Barbera, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvingnon and Chardonnay.
We have found that wineries outside of the Langhe,
when they get it right, like here at Sciorio, the wines are a
tremendous value for the quality. We enjoyed all the wines, but
especially liked the Barbera d'Asti and the Monferrato Rosso(Syrah).
Sciorio does a private label for a restaurant in Portland, OR called
Alba Osteria & Enoteca. A place we are sure to check out next time we are
in Portland. Giuseppe said the food is very authentic Piemontese
which is a rare find in the US.

The cellar is very beautiful and will definitely be on Leslie's list to paint

Robert just made February for his first ride of the year. Last
year it was January 27, one month earlier. This has been an unusually
cold, long and snowy winter for the Langhe. Nobody can remember
a winter like this. Still mild for Minnesota standards but cold for here.
Today was 60 degrees F and sunny. Lots of people out and about.

Treats from America
The longer you live as an expat, more and more "things" drop off your
gotta get from the USA list(Robert barely thinks about White Castle
anymore). However, the items that remain on the list become an even
bigger obsession. Our friend Cameron just returned from the States
with many treats for us!

What's an Aperitivo? Here in Piemonte the word becomes a verb meaning
let's meet for a drink. There are some noticeable differences from the American
version.
In Italy it is always at a bar/cafe; these terms are interchangeable, hours are
from about 5:30 to 8:00(so you have time to get home for dinner, they eat
late here).
The drink of choice is usually wine, here in Alba bubbles are very
popular; Champagne, Franciacorta, Prosecco or local sparkling wine.
Food is always served with your drink order and is always
included in the price.
The food is bite sized snacks whose quality can vary
that you eat with a toothpick or your fingers.
Very trendy bars will sometimes offer their snacks buffet style on the counter.
Here are some examples of the snacks "stuzzichini":

While Robert enjoys some great bubbles (and working very hard to compose
great photos) Chiaro along with our friends Weston and Elisa are cooking
vegi curry. They just returned from Burgundy with great treats to share: cheese,
mustard, and of course, wine. It was all fabulous, especially the wine.

The REAL thing !! another foodie moment

Our fist time trying this producer Michel Lafarge this wine was a reminder
that wines like this only come from a very small piece of real estate in the
world.

Who say's you can't get ethnic food in Italy? You just have to cook it yourself!

Tags: wine, foodie

What can be more interesting than trying new bubbles
from off the radar wine regions.
Recently we tried a wine from Bulgaria.

Edoardo Miroglio
Brut Rose
Metodo Classico 2006

It appears to be vintage, the label says 2006, but we are not
clear on Bulgarian wine laws.
It was disgorged in September 2008.

We poured some and gave it a try. Light salmon in color with a fine bead
of bubbles. Looks promising. We try a taste. Very dry and crisp with
lots of cherries and fresh cranberries. Balanced with a nice yeast component.
Fairly strong enjoyable yeasty finish. We approve.

A few days later we tried their rose made from Pinot Noir even though
it was a 2005 still showed lot of fruit. Makes us want to try a current vintage.

Tags: wine

After 1 year, 3 months and 13 days....we finally have internet at home,
but who's counting.

Like the rest of the world, it's been a strange winter here too.
Lots of snow and colder than usual. We've noticed that the locals
deal with snow differently than Minnesotans. They treat it more like
rain and use umbrellas!

We found another new great wine at pizza night(didn't we just hear
somewhere that Italians don't drink wine with pizzas? that's totally untrue!)
Anyway, the wine was great and it was refreshing to drink outside of
Piedmont(not that we don't love the wines).
Here's a link to the wine's website:
http://www.stmichael.it/uk/default.asp

Pizza night wouldn't be complete without Chiaro showing off the finer
art of sciabolaing to an eager new student, this time, our friend Richard.

Tags: wine,pizza,