Booking a winery visit in the Langhe and Monferrato
Who to contact, how far ahead, and what you are actually booking.
Written by the I Love Piedmont editors in Mongardino (AT).
Last updated:
Piedmont does not do drive-in tasting rooms. Almost every visit is an appointment with a person, often the person who made the wine.
Know what you are booking. A cantina or azienda agricola is a working producer. You book a visit, you are shown the cellar, you taste three to six wines, and it takes an hour to ninety minutes. An enoteca regionale is a public tasting room, usually in a castle or a village hall, showing the wines of a whole appellation. You can walk into most of those. A wine bar in Alba or Asti sits somewhere between the two.
How far ahead. For a small producer in the Barolo or Barbaresco villages, a week is polite, and in September and October two to three weeks is realistic. For a large or famous estate, longer. Outside the Langhe, in the Monferrato and the Roero, a couple of days is often enough, and sometimes the same morning.
How to ask. Email in English is fine almost everywhere now, but a telephone call gets a faster answer from the smaller estates. Say how many of you there are, what date and roughly what time, and whether anyone is not drinking. Confirm the day before.
What it costs. Most producers charge for a tasting. The amount varies widely and is often waived or deducted if you buy. Ask when you book rather than at the end.
Opening days. Sunday is difficult and Monday is worse. Many small estates work six days and do not receive visitors on Sunday at all. August is patchy. The harvest, from roughly the second week of September into October, is the one time even welcoming producers say no, because everyone is in the vineyard.
Driving. Italy's drink-drive limit is lower than it feels, and Piedmont tasting portions are not small. Decide who is driving before the first pour, or book a driver. There are local firms in Alba and Asti that do nothing else.
One practical suggestion. Book one serious appointment per day, not three. Add an enoteca regionale in the afternoon where you can taste widely without an appointment, and leave the evening free.
