Explore the UNESCO world heritage wine regions of Langhe-Roero-Monferrato, with a bonus day visiting Carema and Caluso.
Along with Sylvie Lewis, your hosts are Italian Wine Ambassador James MacNay and Master Cheese Taster Cinzia Long.
This is the Sussex Wine School autumn trip.
Meet in the centre of wonderful Torino, and finish with an airport transfer for the evening flight to London Gatwick.
Our accommodation is a beautiful working winery in the heart of the Barbaresco hills.
Along the way, the Nebbiolo, Dolcetto and Barbera vines are a dazzling palette of reds and golds, and, if we’re lucky, a glimpse of the Alpine chain appears while we’re out and about. We’ll enjoy seven tastings and winery visits, indulge in one of Cinzia Long’s legendary picnics and cheese tastings, and visit the world-famous Alba Truffle Fair.
The trip runs from Saturday 7th to Wednesday 11th November. You will need to make your way to Turin city centre, where you can check in to your excellent 4* hotel. If you like, you can join Cinzia on her gastronomic city tour in the afternoon, which finishes with a Vermouth aperitivo in one of the city’s historic caffés.
This bespoke trip is available for the very special price of €2595 for Sussex Wine School students.
This trip is all-inclusive apart from flights, insurance and your transfer to Torino centre.
This means all other transfers as described; 4-star and winery b&b accommodation; typical, high quality meals with wine; seven winery visits and tastings; three additional visits; and a Cinzia Long legendary picnic with tutored cheese tasting.
We stay in two excellent accommodations – one in the centre of Torino, and the second a working winery in the Barbaresco hills.
Nowhere in Italy is as proud and committed to the regionality and tradition of its cuisine as Piemonte. Add to this the country’s largest concentration of DOC and DOCG wines, including Barolo and Barbaresco. This trip is a heaven for lovers of food and wine.
The late return flight allows us a bonus visit to the mountainous ‘heroic viticulture’ region of Carema, for Nebbiolo, and neighbouring Caluso, for rare Erbaluce.
Cinzia chooses all of the menus, to paint the full picture of the finest typical regional cuisine.
In addition, she prepares one of her legendary picnics and tutored cheese tastings, which we enjoy in the vineyard, in the company of a winemaker and their wines.
We happily accommodate dietary requirements, but please do indicate your requests on the form when we send it.
We visit and/or have the chance to taste the following DOCG appellations: Barolo, Barbaresco, Roero, Roero Arneis, Carema, Caluso, Dogliani, Moscato d’Asti, Ruchè da Castagnole Monferrato, Nizza, Alta Langa; and the following DOC’s: Verduno Pelaverga, Langhe Nas-Cëtta, Colli Tortonesi, Monferrato, Piemonte, Langhe, Asti; and the following grapes: Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto, Arneis, Pelaverga, Nas-Cëtta, Ruchè, Grignolino, Moscato, Timorasso, Erbaluce, Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir.
The Alps and Barolo hills are beautiful in Autumn/Fall.
Temperatures are likely to be on the cooler side. Inclement weather can occur, so bring warmer clothes and waterproofs.
We meet in Torino city centre on the afternoon of Saturday 7 November, with an evening drop-off at Torino airport on Wednesday 11 November.
BA fly several times a week between Torino and Gatwick. At the time of writing they have a flight departing 06:35 on the morning of 7th, with the return at 20:10 on the evening of 11th.
Easyjet fly daily from London Gatwick to Milano Malpensa. There’s a regular coach transfer from Milano Malpensa to Torino Porta Nuova, which is convenient for your hotel. Otherwise you can take the train via Milano Centrale or Milano Porta Garibaldi.
There are regular TGV services between Paris and Turin.
If you would like to stay extra nights to explore more of Turin, just let us know.
If you extend after the trip, we can help with getting you into the city.
All the wines we taste are available to order in the UK at preferential rates through MacNay Travel & Wine.
Price lists and order forms are included with your tasting sheets.
To book, or if you have any questions, email james@travelandwine.co.uk.
Please confirm your booking by 28 February 2026.
MTW require a 20% non-refundable deposit payment to confirm your place.
Payment of the balance is due sixty days before the trip commences, and this can be made in one or two instalments.
Check in to your four-star hotel in Turin city centre. The hotel is 100m from Porta Nuova station. Airport taxis are around €40, and the regular train service around €5.
At 3pm Cinzia Long leads her famous ‘Taste Torino” tour, taking in some of her favourite food and wine locations. The tour finishes at 6pm with an aperitivo in a traditional Vermouth bar, where the full group meets.
Dinner is at a traditional Piola.
Check out for the one-hour transfer across the plains to the Roero wine hills.
Our first visit is to a family winery close to the town of Canale. Here we explore the winery, cellars and full portfolio, to include Roero DOCG and Roero Arneis DOCG. In terms of grapes, this is our first encounter with Nebbiolo and Barbera, along with some of the area’s best examples of Arneis.
We take a light lunch en route to the handsome city of Alba. Tickets to enter the famous Alba Truffle Fair are included in your trip fee, and, if you’d like to purchase any of these rare and valuable delicacies, we can organise correct storage for you until your departure.
From there we transfer to the Barbaresco hills, where we check in to our b&b. Dinner is in an Osteria in one of the Barbaresco villages.
We don’t have to go far for our first tasting – this is at the Barbaresco winery where we are staying.
After the tasting and cellar visit, we enjoy one of Cinzia Long’s legendary picnics and tutored cheese tastings.
After lunch, a short transfer takes us to a castle with a world-famous cellar. Here, James introduces the wider region, with a selection of Piemontese wines from beyond the boundaries of our trip, as part of a tutored tasting.
We’ll return to our b&b to relax before dinner.
Our first destination today is a short drive away. Our historic winemaker produces Barolo from a prestigious single vineyard ‘MGA’ in the famous comune of La Morra.
Next, we drive to our second tasting of the day, in a different comune, where, alongside Barolo, our winemaker also makes delightful Pelaverga. We’ll eat lightly to accompany our tasting visit.
It’s a busy day today, as we head straight off to the lovely city of Bra, one of the world’s great gastronomic centres.
Here we enjoy a very special visit to the cellars of a famous affineur, followed by a cheese and wine pairing.
Dinner is in one of our favourite restaurants.
We check out and point towards the mountains for a two-hour transfer to Carema, the viticultura eroica growing area, famous for its historic pergola training technique and jaw-dropping terracing. Our winemaker shows us the effect of this mountain environment on his Nebbiolo grapes in a guided tasting.
We stop for a light lunch along the way and our destination is the town of Caluso, where the morainic (glacial) soils encourage the production of Erbaluce, a rarity of the Canavese, as this corner of Piemonte is known. Erbaluce wines are made in sparkling (traditional method), dry and sweet versions. This high quality grape permits extended evolution in the bottle over time.
One last task awaits – and that is to head to the airport. We ensure you’re there in plenty of time for bag drop so you can relax as you wait for your flight to be called. If you are travelling onwards in Italy, you can jump on the train or into a taxi to return to Turin centre.
