After our visit to the wine bank, we were driven to our hotel, Villa Tiboldi, located just outside the small town of Canale. The hotel sits in the middle of the vineyards of Malvirà winery. After checking in, we were given a tour of the vineyards. Roberto, representing the second generation of the Damonte family running this winery, was our guide through the vineyard. This vineyard is in the Roero district, on the left bank of the Tanaro River, which was under the sea several million years ago. The sandy soil and limestone from this area are conducive to the Arneis grape, from which the district’s white wines are made. Nebbiolo grapes grown in this soil produce a red wine that is lighter than the more robust wine produced across the river in soils that have more clay.

For the most part during our walk through the vineyard, I was out of earshot, lagging behind the group, taking a few photos while the light was nice.

The tour of the vineyard was followed by a tour of the Malvirà wine cellars and a tasting of their Roero wines. (By that time, about 6 pm, it had been nearly five hours since our wine at lunch. We were thirsty!)

After the tasting, we walked back to the hotel for the group’s multi-course welcoming dinner in the hotel’s restaurant that included, of course, more wine!

It was a fabulous meal, including among other courses: Poached egg with shavings of white truffle. (The Piedmont region is home to the white truffle, which can cost several thousand dollars per pound.) Also: thinly-sliced veal with tuna sauce; ravioli with zucchini cream filling; Guinea hen with almond sauce and fig; and much more. For desert: Peach mousse, with a peach fruit center, frozen and dipped in white chocolate to form a shell shaped and painted like a peach. Fabulous.