We are hoping to be able to reinstate this bespoke tour option for the 2023 running of the famed Slow Food Cheese Festival in Bra. Please get in contact with any questions or if you would like to register your interest.

Tour Inclusions:

All accommodation
All transport
All entrance fees, appointment tastings and visits
All meals, inclusive of top local wines (no house wines on our tours) bar Cheese Festival evening

Arrival and check-in to our accommodation in Turin.  We will rendezvous together at our luxurious hotel in the early evening before heading out on foot into the centro storico of Turin for apperitivo and the first of our all inclusive meals together at an amazing traditional Torinese restaurant.

We will begin the morning with a visit to one of Turin’s most famous artisan chocolatiers so don’t overdo breakfast. You will both hear the story of Turin’s unique involvement in the development of chocolate as we know it today, as well as taste a selection of both the traditional and famed chocolate of Piemonte and some of the truly unique creations which this producer alone makes.

From the chocolate tasting we will make our way on to the Porto Palazzo markets – Europe’s largest open air market. We will focus on the fresh produce area of the market. Walk the stores of amazing fruit and vegetables, see the amazing array of seafood on offer delivered fresh daily from the coast only an hour away and the incredible meats, cheeses, salumi, prosciutto and the list goes on. This will all get the juices flowing in preparation for a final lunch in the city before we head for the Alps.

In the afternoon we will head south out of Turin along the French/Italian Alps and for the Valle Grana and the Castelmagno area. This is a really picturesque drive, especially once we start heading up into the valley. We will be staying in a tiny mountain hamlet at around 1200m in some stunningly renovated apartments right on the mountainside.

During our time up in the Alps we will have the opportunity to experience the outdoors, on-mountain milking of the special alpine breed of cows they rear here, see the making of the famed and rare Castelmagno d’Alpeggio Cheese (known as ‘The King of Cheeses), do some alpine hikes if you wish and of course enjoy some amazing food and fine wines. These couple of days in the Alp are a great opportunity to relax in the peace and quiet of the mountains, but we will organise plenty to do if you want to.

If you do not feel up to the hikes, feel free to relax back at the apartments, take a coffee or a drink down at the bar in the Rifugio, have a look around the village, or just relax in the mountain air and do nothing.

We will have another half day up in the Alps and a final lunch in this amazing and scenic spot. In the afternoon we  descend out of the Alps and make our way into the rolling Langhe hills and the world famous Barolo wine zone where we will base for the remainder of the trip. Our home town will be the famed Barolo village of Monforte d’Alba, home to several of the absolute best-of-the-best Barolo producers, but also a stunningly picturesque UNESCO heritage listed town.

Our time in the Langhe will start with a visit to one of Italy’s most famous cheese producers and their aging cellars up in the nearby Maritime Alps. You will have a guided tour of the extensive underground cellars which are built under an old alpine village and then taste a range of their famed cheeses.

For the afternoon we will immerse ourselves in in the famed wines of this finest of the fine wine regions of Italy. You will experience wine tasting Italian style which means we will have an appointment tasting with a top producer. These tastings are not just a quick tasting of a couple of wines then arrivederci, but typically involve a tour of the cellar, maybe even a walk in the vineyards, a talk about the history of the cantina and the family behind the wines, then a guided tasting.

Dinner this evening will be at an amazing local wine bar/restaurant with an incredible cellar. It will be a great opportunity to eat, drink and be merry fuelled by the best of Barolo.

Enjoy an hour or two free time in the morning to check out the local village where we will be based before we make our way to another appointment wine tasting. We will most likely visit the nearby Barbaresco wine area as this allows you to experience both of these famous wine zones which are geographically so close together, use the same varieties of grapes, vineyard and wine production techniques, yet produce quite distinctly different style of wine.

Following our tasting we will have lunch together before heading to Bra and the famed Slow Food Cheese festival.

At the festival we will spend some time walking around together tasting and talking with various vendors and generally getting a feel for the festival and its layout. Following this you will be set loose to walk, taste and tour the festival to your heart’s content.

We do not have a dinner planned for this evening (you probably wont feel like eating any more) but should you want something you can satiate yourself at the festival or back in our town base should you desire.

After checking out of the accommodation we will go to one final tasting – this time to sample the famed hazelnuts of the Alta Langhe hills. The small family run operation produces an array of delectable hazel nut products which you get to sample, as well as a look in the hazelnut groves and their production before we make our way to our final lunch together. This lunch will be the typical Italian long Sunday lunch, with no menu, just fresh, seasonal plates from an ever changing menu. For your own tour planning I would expect this lunch to wrap up around 14:30 in the afternoon.

From here we will transport you on to your next point of travel – either a local hotel or train station, or back to Turin city, Turin Airport or major rail station in the city.