Can this trip be combined with a stay in Portofino?

Yes — the Ligurian Riviera is two hours from Turin. We can build a combined Piedmont-Liguria itinerary of nine or ten days that finishes at the sea, which many guests find a perfect contrast to the inland hills.

How is bespoke pricing structured?

Pricing is set individually based on your travel dates, group size, and accommodation preferences. Complete the planning form and a specialist will respond within one business day.

7-Day Bespoke Journey

Piedmont: Wine Harvest & the Truffle Fair

Barolo, Barbaresco, the Alba White Truffle Fair, and the Langhe in October.

Available as Private Semi-Private Self-Guided

From €3,490 per person 7 days / 6 nights

View Itinerary

Tour Overview

7 days across Italy.

Piedmont in October is the most intensely pleasurable week in Italian food and wine. The grape harvest on the Langhe hills brings Barolo and Barbaresco producers to their cellars for the first time with the new vintage, the white truffle season in Alba produces the most expensive food ingredient in the world by weight, and the Fiera del Tartufo — held every weekend in October and November — draws buyers and cooks from every serious kitchen in Europe. The Piedmontese table, built on Nebbiolo, Arneis, white truffles, beef from the Fassone cattle, and the finest hazelnuts on earth, is a serious argument for considering Piedmont, not Tuscany, Italy's most important food region. This seven-day private journey is designed for travellers who take wine and food as subjects worth serious study.

Detailed Itinerary

Your journey, day by day.

Every day is designed with breathing room. Sleep in, take a detour, linger at lunch — the itinerary flexes around you, not the other way around.

Day 1

Turin: The Piedmontese Capital

The table begins here.

Turin is where Piedmontese culture is most concentrated in a walkable form: the colonnaded streets of the centro storico contain the pastry houses and café-bars that invented the bicerin (a layered drink of coffee, chocolate, and cream) and the gianduja chocolate that Ferrero eventually industrialised into Nutella. Your private driver meets you at the airport and delivers you to your hotel near the Piazza San Carlo — the city's formal drawing room, surrounded by arcaded palaces. The afternoon is at leisure: the Quadrilatero Romano neighbourhood, the Mercato di Porta Palazzo (Europe's largest open-air market), and the ancient café Baratti e Milano, where the marble counters and the glass cases of chocolates have been there since 1875. Dinner at a Torinese restaurant that takes the regional table seriously: vitello tonnato, agnolotti del plin in brodo, and the aged Barolo from the wine list that a serious sommelier has spent years accumulating.

Piazza San Carlo and Turin's colonnaded arcades
Baratti e Milano café — 1875 interior, gianduja chocolate
Mercato di Porta Palazzo — Europe's largest open-air market
Torinese dinner: vitello tonnato, agnolotti del plin, Barolo

5★ hotel, Turin centro

Day 2

Asti & the Moscato Country

Before Barolo, there was the Monferrato.

Asti is the other great wine town of Piedmont — not Barolo but Moscato, Barbera, and Grignolino, the wines that Piedmontese families have been drinking at their tables for centuries before international attention fell on the Langhe. The medieval towers of the centro storico and the Gothic cathedral are the visual context for a morning walk before the drive south into the Canelli DOCG zone — the denomination for the finest Moscato passito, the Asti Secco that most people outside the region have never encountered, and the extraordinary underground cathedrals that are the cellar system of the Canelli wineries. Your afternoon is at a private estate in Canelli: the cellars, which descend forty metres into the tuff beneath the hilltop, were dug in the 19th century and have been listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites for their unique character. A tasting of Moscato d'Asti and Asti Secco with the winemaker, with an explanation of why these wines deserve more serious attention than the world currently gives them.

Asti's medieval towers and Gothic cathedral
Canelli UNESCO underground wine cathedrals
Private Moscato estate tasting — Asti Secco and passito
Transfer to the Langhe hills

Meals: Breakfast Langhe wine estate relais, near Alba

Day 3

Alba & the Truffle Fair

The most prized food ingredient in the world by weight.

Alba on a Saturday morning in October is one of the great food experiences available in Italy. The Fiera Internazionale del Tartufo Bianco d'Alba takes over the city's mediaeval centre with hundreds of vendors selling white truffles from the Langhe hills — the Tuber magnatum, which has a scent that is simultaneously musky, garlicky, honeyed, and entirely unlike anything else, and which in peak season sells for three to five thousand euros per kilogram. Your expert guide navigates the fair: the difference between first-choice, second-choice, and table-grade truffles; the testing procedure; the relationship between autumn rainfall and truffle quality. A private consultation with one of the leading truffle dealers in Alba — a family-run operation with clients in every serious restaurant in Europe — whose assessment of the current year's harvest is the market benchmark. Lunch at a restaurant in Alba's historic centre: tajarin (the local egg pasta, at its best with forty egg yolks per kilo of flour) with fresh white truffle shaved at the table.

Alba International White Truffle Fair — Saturday morning
Expert guide through the truffle grades
Private consultation with a leading truffle dealer
Tajarin with fresh white truffle shaved at the table

Meals: Breakfast Langhe wine estate relais

Day 4

Barolo: The King of Italian Wine

The most serious red wine in Italy, still made by families.

The Barolo DOCG is a compact area of eleven communes on the Langhe hills above Alba, where Nebbiolo grown on calcareous-clay soils produces a wine that requires a minimum of five years' aging by law and can develop for thirty or forty. Your morning begins in the village of La Morra, whose hilltop church commands a panorama of the entire Barolo zone — the vineyards visible in every direction, the individual crus identified by name in a map that exists nowhere else in Italian wine. Your private visit is to one of the traditional Barolo estates: a family operation where the grandfather made wine in the old way and the current generation has refined the approach without abandoning the character. A vineyard walk through the current vintage's Nebbiolo — the grapes changing from purple to brownish-red as they enter Surmaturazione — then into the cellar for a tasting directly from the barrel. The formal tasting follows: a vertical of three vintages from the estate's principal cru, with the winemaker explaining the differences.

La Morra panorama — the entire Barolo DOCG from one viewpoint
Private estate visit: vineyard walk and barrel tasting
Barolo vertical — three vintages, one cru
Harvest-season Nebbiolo on the vine

Meals: Breakfast Langhe wine estate relais

Day 5

Barbaresco & the Masculine-Feminine Debate

The wine that the professionals drink when Barolo is too much.

Barbaresco is Barolo's neighbour and rival — the same Nebbiolo grape, the same calcareous soils, but slightly warmer, slightly more accessible young, and requiring only four years of aging instead of five. Gaja is the most famous producer; the village of Barbaresco with its medieval tower commands a different set of views across the Tanaro valley. Your private visit to a Barbaresco estate includes a walk through the Asili cru — one of the most celebrated single vineyards in Piedmont — and a tasting that includes both current and library vintages. The afternoon returns to Alba for the truffle hunt in the surrounding countryside: a truffle hunter from the hills above Treiso with a trained dog, a pre-dawn forest walk in the beech and oak woodland, and the return to the estate kitchen where the morning's truffles are cleaned and prepared for dinner. Dinner at the relais: white truffle risotto, braised Fassone beef, Barolo from the cellar.

Barbaresco village tower and Asili cru vineyard walk
Private Barbaresco estate tasting — library vintages
Pre-dawn truffle hunt in the Treiso hills
White truffle risotto and braised Fassone beef dinner

Meals: Breakfast Langhe wine estate relais

Day 6

The Hazelnut & a Piedmontese Kitchen

The ingredient that makes Piedmont's pastry culture extraordinary.

The Tonda Gentile Trilobata hazelnut of the Langhe is a DOC ingredient — protected designation, specific provenance, irreplaceable character. It is the hazelnut in every gianduja, in every Ferrero Rocher, in the nocino liqueur that finishes the Piedmontese meal. Your morning is at a hazelnut estate in the Cortemilia area: the harvest, which runs September–October, leaves the shells and husks drying in the sun, and the scent of roasting hazelnut from the processing facility is the first thing you notice. A demonstration of hazelnut production from harvest to the toasted nut, followed by a tasting of the hazelnut in every form: raw, roasted, gianduja paste, and the single-estate hazelnut oil that sells to pastry chefs who know what they're paying for. The afternoon is a cooking class at the relais: the chef — a native of the Langhe whose grandmother taught her the pasta — demonstrates the techniques specific to the regional table. Agnolotti del plin, the pinched pasta that carries the traditional meat filling; tajarin rolled to the right thinness; the finanziera, the ancient Piedmontese offal dish that is simultaneously challenging and extraordinary.

Tonda Gentile hazelnut estate — harvest and production
Hazelnut tasting: raw, roasted, gianduja, single-estate oil
Langhe cooking class: agnolotti del plin, tajarin, finanziera
Relais dinner with regional wine pairings

Meals: Breakfast Langhe wine estate relais

Day 7

Return to Turin & Departure

One last Piedmontese morning.

The drive from the Langhe back to Turin takes an hour. There is time, if you wish, for a final stop at one of the small producers on the road north — the Dolcetto di Dogliani is the local everyday wine, a deep purple, fresh, and almost peppery red that the Piedmontese drink with everything when Barolo is too much effort — and for a final espresso at a bar in the Langhe hills before the motorway. Your driver delivers you to Turin airport at the agreed time. The October fog that the Piedmontese call la nebbia — which rolls in from the Po valley most mornings and burns off by midday — gives the Langhe at departure a quality that is very specifically of this landscape and this season.

Possible final producer stop on the road north
La nebbia — the Langhe morning fog
Private transfer to Turin airport

Meals: Breakfast

Where You'll Stay

Hand-picked hotels, every night.

We choose properties for character, location, and the kind of service that makes you feel looked after — not just checked in. Every hotel can be swapped for an alternative if you prefer.

Turin

1 night

5★ hotel, historic centre

Near Piazza San Carlo

Close to the Torinese cafés and the Quadrilatero Romano

Langhe (near Alba)

5 nights

Wine estate relais

Barolo or Barbaresco DOCG

Our preferred property is a working wine estate with guest accommodation — you sleep surrounded by the vineyards you will be tasting. The cellar is under the house.

Hotels shown are indicative of the standard we book. Upon request, we will provide a detailed itinerary with specific hotel options tailored to your preferences and budget.

What's in the Price

Included

6 nights — 1 in Turin 5★ hotel, 5 at Langhe wine estate relais
Daily breakfast at your hotel
Alba Truffle Fair guided visit with expert consultant
Private truffle consultation with leading Alba dealer
Pre-dawn truffle hunt with trained dog
Private Barolo estate: vineyard walk, barrel tasting, vertical
Private Barbaresco estate: Asili cru walk, library tasting
Canelli underground wine cathedrals private visit
Hazelnut estate visit and tasting
Langhe cooking class at the relais
All private vehicle transfers
All entrance fees for included sites
24/7 travel specialist support
Hamilton & Chase digital travel booklet with producer contacts and vintage guide

Not Included

International flights to/from Turin
Travel insurance (required — we can arrange on request)
Meals not listed
Wine and truffle purchases
Personal expenses
Gratuities for guides and drivers

Good to Know

The White Truffle Fair runs every weekend in October and November — we schedule this itinerary to include at least one Saturday fair visit. The truffle season varies by year; your specialist will advise on the optimal timing.
The wine harvest is typically late September through mid-October — for the active harvest with grapes in the cellar, this window is ideal.
Outside October and November, this itinerary runs without the truffle fair but includes a private truffle hunt and market visit year-round.
Accommodation at a specific wine estate is arranged through our relationships — availability is limited and early booking is essential for October.

Make It Yours

Optional add-ons & upgrades.

Every trip is different. These extras can be woven into your itinerary — just let your travel specialist know what catches your eye.

Private helicopter over the Langhe

A thirty-minute circuit of the Barolo and Barbaresco zones from above — the cru vineyard names are visible on maps and the landscape makes more sense from altitude

Price on Request

Turin Egyptian Museum

The world's second-largest Egyptian collection — a private morning visit with a guide who has been working the Savoyard collections for twenty years

Price on Request

Second truffle fair weekend

The Alba Truffle Fair runs every weekend in October and November — for guests staying a second week, a second visit to track the season's progression and compare grades

Price on Request

Grappa distillery visit

The Jacopo Poli distillery in the Veneto or a Langhe-based craft distillery — the marc-based spirit that completes the Piedmontese meal, tasted from the still

Price on Request

"The white truffle fair was extraordinary, but the meal at the relais with truffles we had hunted that morning was the meal of our lives. The sommelier opened a 2001 Barolo from their cellar that we hadn't asked for — just because the moment called for it. Piedmont in October is a serious argument."

George & Helen W.

San Francisco, USA · Piedmont: Wine Harvest & the Truffle Fair, October 2024

Common Questions

Questions about this trip.

Is Piedmont better than Tuscany for wine?

It depends on what you prefer. Barolo and Barbaresco are more tannic and age-worthy than most Tuscans — they reward patience in a way Brunello does too, but with a different flavour profile. Piedmont's table wine culture is also deeper: every meal has a local red that nobody exports. Many guests who come here for the first time leave convinced that Piedmont has been undersold.

What is the minimum group size for the truffle consultation?

The truffle dealer consultation works well for two guests and scales to eight. The truffle hunter is also flexible on group size; we find that four or fewer makes the forest walk much more intimate.

Bespoke Journey

Piedmont: Wine Harvest & the Truffle Fair

7 days / 6 nights

From €3,490

per person

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