Wijntrip Vinum Nobis naar zonovergoten Piemonte
Thursday
Collect at Schiphol at 7:30 am. Certainly no retreat. Frans and Marjan Rientjes (shareholders of the first hour), Walter and Mieke den Bieman (prospective shareholders), Katja and Egbert van der Pol (brand new shareholders) and Henri Sep (founder, CEO, tour guide and above all bon vivants) fly towards Turin.
We board spring from the plane. Bus with driver is ready. Under a bright blue sky we drive through the budding vineyards of Piemonte towards Canale. Beautiful views especially when you consider that the new crop Arneis, Barolo, Barbera and Barbaresco is in the making.
At the Vinum Nobis vineyard, in the heart of the Roero wine region, you will find a stylish country hotel. Welcome again on arrival: Henri is here at home and we shareholders are received with all respect. On the terrace we enjoy a glass of Malvirà Roero Arneis Renesio 2013 and a magnificent view. We look out over a grand theater of vast vineyards planted with Nebbiolo and Arneis grapes. How beautiful life can be – and then the wine tour has yet to begin.
An excellent lunch is framed with Arneis Saglietto 2011, Malvirà Roero Arneis Trinità 2008 and Malvirà Langhe Riesling.
Afterwards we walk through the vineyards for a visit to the wine cellars. We meet Roberto Damonte, one of the owners and son of the founder of Malvirà. In the local dialect Mal means “bad” and Vira “twisted”. The original vineyard was oriented north instead of south, as usual. This winery produces 300,000 bottles per year on 42 hectares. Vinum Nobis has 1 hectare planted with Arneis that produces up to 6,000 bottles annually. In the tasting room, some Arne girls will be tasted under the leadership of the Norwegian Karen.
In the shaving light of the afternoon sun we drive to the beautifully situated wine estate Luigi Einaudi, where we spend two nights in the family-run Relais of the family, on top of the wine cellars.
A book can be written about the Einaudi family. The founder of the wine estate is Luigi Einaudi. Professor at Harvard, rich in writing economics books and second president of Italy (the Republic after World War II). The story goes that he has been the only non-corrupt President of Italy. After good Italian use, the descendants of the founding father got into a fight and the estate became fragmented. His granddaughter Paola Einaudi married the wealthy Baron di Sardagna and in the second half of last century bought back all the property piece by piece and merged it into the present company, which has been led by her son Matteo since her death. His cousin Ludovico Einaudi, who also lives in a house on the country estates, is the famous composer who also wrote the film music for Les Intouchables.
During the drinks we talk with Matteo about the development of the wine industry in the Barolo area. Recently, an American amounted to € 1 million for only 2,000 m2 Barolo vineyard on Mount Cannubi. It is clear that there is no longer a healthy return on investment for these prices. Matteo estimates that the wine regions of Roero and Langhe go the same way as Bordeaux, where wealthy foreigners buy up because of the prestige vineyards.
We end the day in a unique local trattoria in Dogliani. This restaurant is run by two brothers – one cooks and the other serves – and opens especially for us. That is also Italy. A meal with classic regional dishes is accompanied by an Arneis 2014 from the young top winemaker Luca Valfaccenda a Barbera d’Alba 2012 made by Josetta Saffirio and a Barolo 2007 from the well-known family Giacomo Borgogno.
Friday Magnumdag
Again fantastic weather. From the terrace of our villa we have a beautiful view over the vineyards lined with the snowy Alps. We drive through to Alba along the Barbera vineyards of Vinum Nobis also this one hectare. Below Egbert kisses the first tendrils and wishes them a lot of strength in the further development to a beautiful Vinum Nobis Barbera 2015.
Alba is a lively town. Here is the famous Ferrero factory, known for the Nutella and the Kinder Ei. It is by far the largest employer and the town is alive. On the Piazza Duomo in the historic center we settle for a delicious meal
For the lunch. We sit downstairs but hear from Henri – good to know – that their three-star restaurant is located on the first floor. We have lunch with a magnum Langhe Arneis 2014 and a magnum Ceretto Barolo 2010. 
Op de weg terug brengen we nog een bezoek aan de kelders van Ceretto.
In the evening we dine in our hotel. Henri hired a cook who gave us a delicious meal. This watery Italian cooks us at a very fast pace Tartra with warm Grana Padano fondue, Plin (a local variation on ravioli), roasted veal with hazelnuts and pears in wine ice. We drink two magni at a Langhe Rosso 2010 and Barolo Cannubi 2005 respectively.
Saturday
We end our visit to Poderi Luigi Einaudi with a visit to the wine cellars. Wine master Lorenzo leads us along the steel and oak (French, 225 lt and Slovenian, 5,000 lt) barrels where 400,000 bottles of wine are made each year.
We drive again along winding roads through the vineyards but now to the village just above Alba. We stop at a very small vineyard (approx. 2250 m2) of Vinum Nobis on the “holy” mountain Barolo Cannubi but now without the familiar gray Vinum Nobis nameplate. Matteo still can not get over his heart to assume that he has donated this piece of land for 25 years. The social control on the spot is tight and Italian egos are heavily dimensioned.
We sit down on the terrace of one of the best restaurants in the Piemonte and treat ourselves to a glass of Contrato spumante 2008. From here we have a stunning view on Barbaresco land. In the converted school we enjoy a “simple” lunch and drink Malvirà Tre Uve 2011 and Barbaresco Riserva Bel Colle 2001.
The second highlight is the visit to the famous wine cellar. This is divided into three. You enter the modern cellar where wine bottles with graphical precision are placed in racks in the racks. Then you walk on to the old cellar, a classic, romantic but rather messy distribution of the most unique wines, from a Methusalem Chateau d’Yquem to a Bollinger 2000 R.D. (ie sticks that did not receive phylloxera). You end in the holy of holies. Behind real vault doors a small collection of very special wines is kept: crates Dom Perignon 2004, 1967 Petrus Pomerol etc. There are also two boxes with a bottle of Romanee Conti and some bottles of Vosne Romanée – La Tâche, Les Richebourgs, Romanée Saint-Vivant, Echezeaux, Grands-Echezeaux. Purchase price per box € 100,000 for the theoretical case these would be for sale.
On to Turin where we spend the night in the center in a nice hotel. Turin is a pleasant city with a beautiful historic center. We walk past a luxuriant but entirely brick-built Pallazzo where King Victor Emmanual II was born. On the façade, there is a barrel-heavy tableau in bronze on which this joyous event is mentioned: the most expensive birth announcement ever.
On the way to the restaurant we walk in front of aperitif one of those typical wine bars that Turin is rich in. A selection of wines is displayed in a sort of bookcase along the walls in a simple pipe-drawer. Here is a tiny part of the immense wine lake fragmented in a countless number of vintages, wines, wineries, vineyards, etc. Each wine label is full of indications. It dazzles you when you look at it. You have to be an absolute expert to get a good grip on that. But there is an exception: GAJA. That immediately stands out. That is in large, easily readable letters on every bottle, whatever the content is. GAJA only markets one thing: GAJA makes top wines. And an important way to make this clear is the exorbitant price. But extremely rich Chinese people appreciate this. They can not read labels, but GAJA recognizes everyone. And that the Generous Host does not go for a slobber wine, is guaranteed with GAJA.
We end our wine tour in style. In the writers’ society of Turin, the walls are hidden behind paintings by a richly varied group of writers and poets. They look benevolently when we drink a GAJA Rossj Bass 2012. It turns out to be the only bottle that the restaurant has. After a robust and round Barbera Cascina Francia 2011 by Giacomo Conterno we return with a Sante Stefano Babaresco Riserva 2001 back to the nuance and refinement.
Sunday
Neatly on time we land at noon and rainy Schiphol around noon. A larger transition is hardly imaginable.
Katja Beekman
Egbert van der Pol
