** NEW: Meet The Female Winemaker Behind one of Piedmont Italy's Best Wineries (Free Italy Travel Advice) **
Frequent
Dream of Italy
contributor Susan Van Allen has a new book coming out called 100 Places
in Italy Every Woman Should Go. In her book and in the September
print issue she writes
about women changing the face of Italian winemaking. Here is a profile
of one:
This was my first time back to West of Alba, the town in the Piedmont
region
that's famous for its white truffles, is a graceful wide valley of lush
vineyards, Le
Langhe, where Barolo,
the "King of Wines" is produced. It
was a woman, Marchesa Giulia Colbert,
who made Barolo famous in the
19th century. She wanted something better than the wine that was being
produced from the grapes growing around her Piedmont castle. So she
called in a French expert to make wine similar to a Bordeaux. She was
so happy with the result, she sent cartloads of it to the King of Savoy
in Turin. It became a hit there and all over the courts of Europe.
Anna
Abbona has been married for
28 years to Ernesto Abbona,
whose
family has owned Marchesi di Barolo
since the early 20th century. She's
a glamorous VIP of the wine world and when I met her she graciously
took a break from a meeting with producers to sit with me in the dining
room which she also oversees. By the way, you must make a reservation
to have lunch here to enjoy Piemontese specialties such as brasato
-veal
braised in Barolo. "My husband is home resting from the weekend," Anna
said. "We women are stronger!"
The winery is a grand butter-yellow complex that sits across from the
Barolo castle where Marchesa Giulia Colbert once reigned. It originated
as the headquarters for the Opera Pia Barolo,
a charitable foundation
Giulia created to help the town's needy, which the Abbona family keeps
going. On a tour, you get to see the original barrels used in Giulia's
day, and there's an incredible wine library, with a bottle of Barolo
from 1859 as well as shelves that hold vintages from 1938 on
up-totaling 35,000 bottles.
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