We didn’t realise it until we were arranging this trip but this area of Liguria is really close to Piemonte – so the Langhe wine region is as close to Pieve di Teco as Martinborough is to Wellington. So we have spent the last two days in Piemonte tasting wines and cheese, and along the way visiting Barolo, La Morra, Bra and Alba.

The landscape is one of rolling hills with vines and hazelnut trees – Ferrero Rocher, the chocolate firm, is from this area and one of the local delicacies is gianduja – a classier version of Nutella. Alba is also known for truffles (wrong season), and the whole region is known for wines paricularly red: Barolo, Babaresco, Barbera d’alba and nebbiolo. We had some lovely whites too and visited a local sparkling wine producer.

As well as the wines we had lunch at Il Cortile, a lovely osteria overlooking the vineyards near Diano d’Alba, and an extensive (!) tasting of 16 italian cheeses at a specialist cheese shop in Bra.

After all that, the next day was a stroll around the Alba Saturday morning market and a picnic lunch near Barolo, then a tour and spumante tasting at Contratto, a small spumante producer based in Canelli – and very nice it was too!🍾