George in Piedmont

Morning Mist & A Noble Grape.

Words by Co-Founder, George

For the last six years, two friends and I have celebrated our friendship with a boys’ Christmas lunch. In year one, we went to Skehan’s - a Telegraph Hill institution - ate Thai food in the adjoining restaurant and then drank a bottle of port back at one of our flats. Since then we have lunched at various London restaurants but this year, for no particular reason, we decided to indulge ourselves with a boys Christmas two lunches, one breakfast and one dinner, in Piedmont. Luck was on our side as the sun shone, the budget airlines kept to their timetables and the planning fell neatly into place. If outstanding food, unique wines, and sunshine-soaked countryside sound like your sort of thing, then read on for a few recommendations

Sleeping

Rocche Costamagna, La Morra

Piedmont is a large region of Italy with myriad areas worth staying in. We opted for the Rocche Costamagna Art Suites in the beautiful hill top town of La Morra in Langhe; a region famous for Barolo wine. Rocche Costamagna - a wine producer since 1842 - provided clean, large, elegantly designed rooms and a stocking sized half bottle of Barolo on check out. La Morra has one of the few bars in the area which stays open late for a digestivo, perfect for three Englishmen who struggle to see the finishing line. It also has stunning aerial views of the morning mist, a welcome antidote having missed the finishing line.

Eating

Osteria Veglio

The brainwave of the trip was Jamie’s idea to travel the 5km from La Morra to lunch on electric bikes. Rolling through the vineyards, in winter sunshine, en route to the celebrated local lunch spot of Osteria Veglio was a highlight of the year. And lunch did not disappoint. Osteria Veglio serves traditional, seasonal Piedmontese food and like all the restaurants in the area has a wine list that, unless you have nuanced understanding of how terroir changes from one side of a Langhe valley to the other, may as well be in Sanskrit. Luckily, the sommelier was brilliant and guided us onto a delicious Barbera d’Alba from a vineyard within spitting distance.

Belsit in Langa

After a negroni and exchanging Christmas presents in La Morra we walked to the edge of town for dinner at Belsit in Langa, which only opened in late 2024. With its untreated wood and glass design, panoramic views and assured staff, the restaurant makes an immediate impact. It felt like this was a special occasion, which of course it was, the boys’ Christmas lunch. Belsit in Langa is unpretentious fine dining that is proud of its local food and wine culture. We gave our enthusiastic young sommelier the brief of choosing two local reds, one of which had to be a Barolo, with a budget of 60-80EUR per bottle, which goes a long way there. The Renato Corino Arborina Barolo 2018 he selected was the pinnacle of the trip. A Barolo wine typical of the La Morra comunale, which tend to be more elegant as opposed to the powerful wines made in other parts of the DOCG.

Drinking

Osvaldo Viberti

The next morning after two coffees, a ham and cheese focaccia and pistachio cornetto each for breakfast, we headed for the wine producer Osvaldo Viberti, just a few kilometers outside La Morra. We were shown around by Paolo, the son in the family run operation. They make approximately 40,000 bottles of fantastic Barolo, Barbera d’Alba and Dolcetto every year. After learning a lot about the nebbiolo grape variety and wine making in general, we tasted a selection of the wines accompanied by farm-grown seasonal hazelnuts. For any passionate wine drinkers reading, I suggest stocking up on their 2021 Barolo, a notable vintage for the region, to drink in four or five years’ time.