Apart from its wines Piedmont also has spectacular scenery and some world-class food which I’ll be enjoying over the next few days, from cheese through meat to chocolate and grappa. Before you think it’s a nice vacation imagine tasting around 120 of the world’s most tannic wines every day. It’s really taxing. So today I’m taking it slowly and enjoying this warm sunny Sunday on Alba’s main drag, watching that Italian wonder of social choreography called the passeggiata, and having an al fresco lunch of the local raw beef and tajarin pasta. With this, I’m drinking Vietti’s Roero Arneis 2009, a deliciously unpretentious sugary-lemony light white from the local Arneis grape, as well as the Langhe Freisa Le Naturé 2008 from Pelissero. The latter is crazy stuff like they only make them in Italy: a lightly sparkling dry red with pungent cherry fruit and masses of brett, too. It’s a challenging wine that I’d never let into my dining room with other humans but here, with the pasta under the sun, it somehow works. 

Disclaimer
My stay in Italy including flights, accomodation and wine tasting programme is paid for by Albeisa, the Piedmontese producers’ association. I paid for the above lunch and both wines.