piedmont wine tastings?

I was in lake Como 2.5 years ago. I forget the name of the hotel I stayed in, but I will find out and post it for you tomorrow -- it was a great hotel and not overly expensive.

I was unable to go on a wine tour, but I'm sure that others on this board can give advise on where to go.

For what its worth, my favorite Piedmont producers that produce many various bottlings are:
Sandrone
La Spinetta
Clerico
And, for slightly less expensive wines, Icardi

None of these producers are particularly small, so they might all have good tastings.

Other producers that make fewer wines, but which I've also found to be excellent are:
Albino Rocca
Cavalloto
Braida
L. Pira
Silvio Grasso
Seghesio

(Giacosa and Gaja are supposedly terrific, but I have no experience with their wines as most are out of my price league.)

Have a great trip, and I'll post the name of the hotel I stayed in tomorrow.

a

"What contemptible scoundrel stole the cork from my lunch?" -- W.C. Fields

I was in Como (Cernobbio actually) last weekend. We stayed at a very reasonably priced hotel named Giardino (www.giardinocernobbio.com) which I can't recommend highly enough. The line dividing the towns of Cernobbio and Como is murky at best, and a ferry ride into Como only takes around 10 minutes.

Unfortunately we weren't there long enough to make it into Piedmont. While I haven't been there a personal favorite of mine, which I know gives tours, is Ceretto.

SN,

We stayed at the Grand Hotel Imperiale, a small, charming, boutique, hotel in the town of Moltrasio (on the West side of the lake, about 7 miles North of the city of Como). The hotel has been purchased by Best Western as part of their line of botique hotels throughout Europe (the Best Westerns in France and Italy are about one billion times nicer than the ones in the U.S.) The town of Moltrasio is quite small. It has only two hotels and four (or so) restaurants, but it is a lovely town. The ferry and hydrofoil dock just feet from the hotel, as I recall, and they can whisk (well, the hydrofoil whisks) you away to Bellagio or wherever else you want to go.


a

"What contemptible scoundrel stole the cork from my lunch?" -- W.C. Fields

thank you a,
Right now I'm leaning towards Grand Hotel Tremezzo but I will check out your suggestion. hope you had a good time. I have never been to Itally, but my wife says this area is gorgous. I was originally going to spend about 3 days here, but with my new found love of Barolos, I simply must visit a few wineries. I'll have to locate Ceretto.