On the way to Asti, Marc set the mood by reading us an excerpt from a novel set during WW2 in the neighbourhood "The House on the Hill" by Pavesi. In Asti we had a bus and then walking tour of the streets of the old town with a local guide Christina.
The walking tour finished at the Barbero Davide Nougat and Chocolate where we were shown various aspects of the factory by a young woman. The tour started in the museum where we were shown how the cacao was treated when it arrived. These days the treated cacao is brought in from South America so these machines are redundant. In the museum also was a case full of samples that the salesman took around Italy to show the factory wares.
The next stop was the nougat making where there were several vats mixing egg whites, honey, glucose and vanilla slowly. This process takes about 7 hours and then the hazelnuts, pistachios or almonds are added. These are toasted before adding. We were also told that the longer the nougat is cooked the more brittle it becomes and this is how to regulate whether the nougat is soft or hard. Because it is stirred constantly during this process a lot of air is added so that the brittle or hard
nougat is not difficult to break.
We then moved to the chocolate making part of the factory where we sampled various chocolates including chocolate coated grissini - delicious!
The coach then took us to Tigliole and the restaurant Ca' Vittoria which has a Michelin hat. We began with a pre lunch aperitif and were then given a demonstration of a modern way of making a traditional dish, pepper stuffed with tuna, anchovy and caper.
We then adjourned to the diningroom where we feasted on the entrée (accompanied by a chilled Arneis) that was demonstrated to us followed by a risotto with cheese from the valleys of Piemonte. With this we drank another new variety called Grignolino which was a light rosé style. This wine is rare and cannot be found outside the district. Dessert was a nougat semi-freddo accompanied by Moscato d'Asti.
Our next stop was La Morra for a wine tasting at Azienda Roche Costamagna where we sampled their two principal wines being Barbera and Barolo. This is the oldest winery in the region dating from 1841 thought it was closed for 25 years due to the untimely death of the owner when his daughter Claudia was a baby. This Claudia reopened the winery when she was able.
After the tasting we walked to the highest point and photographed the vineyards.
We arrived back at the hotel at around 6.30pm after a long day. A gelati for dinner was full of pear, fig, and peach flavours and was sufficient today.
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Mouth watering!
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