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Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Barolo, the town, the vinyards, the landscape, and the "cantine" or wine cellars.

A trip to the Piedmont will never be complete without a visit to the town of Barolo. For this post, I have decided to show more pictures, and write less words.
 
I stopped our car as we approached the final
climbing road into the town of Barolo, to pay
our respects to this vineyard.

As we walked through the main uphill trail of
the vineyard, we saw what we were not able to
discern from below, as a shack of some sorts,
or a construction of more noble usage.
 

A votive chapel in the middle of the vineyard was
a common shelter from the elements, as well as a
place to pray for a good harvest.

This vineyard is  the early days of March is just
waking up from the death of winter.


A bottle of Barolo red wine
from the
"Rocche dell'Annunziata"
a winery that represents
a Piedmont Subdivision
of the DOCG. As the name
"Annunziata" or
"Annunciation" hints, this
winery was founded by the
Benedictines in late 12th
Century.


The land in Barolo is not the rich
dark fertile land of my native
Pennsylvania, but rather greyish
stark and arid soil. However such
 delicious grapes and sumptuous
wine will come out of this
apparently barren earth.

An old winepress at the parking
 piazza at the entrance of Barolo
 

Sundials are a common decorative
motif on the outside walls in the
wine producing areas of Piedmont 


The streets in Barolo are narrow,
with romantic touches around
every corner.

The ingenuity of the Italians can
be seen everywhere, in at the
entrance of a Wine Tasting bar
and their ingenious use of old
bottles.
 
A bakery ("forno") that offers a
selection of fine cheeses.


A castle at the end of the street.
This small town of Barolo has
had an entourage of noble
 families. One of the first Cantine,
"I Marchesi di Barolo" was as the
name tells us, the result of a love
story of a French lady of nobility
and an Italian entrepreneur.

The Roman Bacco oversees that everyone has the
opportunity to make a toast.


















 

Alleyways so narrow that
neighbors can share secrets with
 each other with a whisper
from their balconies













 
Sometimes I can overcome the temptation of a
glass of wine, but  I am lost at resisting
the call of  an Italian "biscotti" bakery.

Delicious selection of all types of "biscotti"
cookies, ideal for tea-time, or for anytime.


The owner of this biscotti pasticeria was as
gracious in offering me samples, as his butter
cookies were delicious.









The weeping willow provides shade to this
house on the outskirts of Barolo.

The "Ape 50", the workhorse of
the small Italian farmhouse, made
its debut in the early 1970's,  when
I was a student in Rome.





The parking lot of the Marchesi
di Barolo winery.

Props of a bygone time in the entrance of the
Marchesi di Barolo winery.

Playing with the props:"Cheese!"

View the wine cellar at Marchesi di Barolo.

Tasting room at Marchesi di Barolo

Old wine bottle corks and flowers in a discarded
box of wine bottles.

Article from a major Italian
newpaper on the Marchesi di
Barolo winery.

Another peep into the wine cellar at Marchesi


 
A children's park at the edge of the town of Barolo
 

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