US Airways - August 2013 - (Page 18)

Wine & Dine Michele Chiarlo Cerequio Barolo Riserva 2006 18 august 2013 usairwaysmag.com wine that appealed to the international market. Winemakers started focusing on quality rather than quantity and changed their production methods accordingly. Truffles have experienced similar growth. Domenica Bertolusso, proprietor of TartufLanghe, the largest truffle wholesaler and retailer in Piemonte, has seen international demand for truffles soar. “German and Swiss tourists were the first to discover Alba and its gastronomy,” she says. “Then about twenty years ago Americans started coming to Alba and discovering the food and the wine. Now we have new markets in Brazil, China, and Hong Kong.” Pietro Giovannini, a wine and food writer based in Alba, attributes the truffle’s increasing popularity to the culture of the celebrity chef. “There is more spectacle, more show in food these days,” he says. “Now chefs become stars. And the truffle has become more popular than ever.” Giovannini also points out an unfortunate twist to all this prosperity. The popularity of the region’s wines — the Barolos and Barbarescos, Dolcettos and Gavis — has led to more and more new vineyards, which have replaced some of the woods that provide a habitat for truffles. But not all of them. One evening Our haul, a halfdOzen mediumsize truffles, was put tO gOOd use the next day. after dinner we went out truffle hunting. Roberto, a Chiarlo employee, and his dog, Licu, led the expedition. Roberto’s weathered face bore a huge, constant grin until he got down to the business of seeking truffles; then it turned serious with concentration. Carrying flashlights, we worked along a rutted track with vineyards on one side and scrubby woods on the other. Occasionally Licu would scratch excitedly at the hard, dry soil — it had been a dry fall, not good for the truffle harvest — and Roberto would restrain him with one hand while using the other to gently probe the ground with a trowel. If he was lucky, he unearthed one of the knurled gastronomic gems. Our haul, a half-dozen medium-size truffles, was put to good use the next day. We “helped” — really watched and tasted — as Mariuccia Ferrero, owner of Ristorante San Marco in Canelli, prepared a series of traditional Piemonte dishes. There was bagna cauda, a sauce of phOtOs (clOckwise frOm tOp left): sime/estOck phOtO (2) and cOurtesy Of michele chiarlO couldn’t mask the beauty of the rolling, vine-covered hills. These days, those vines yield riches undreamed of by the current owners’ grandfathers, who long labored in poverty to produce common table wine deemed fit only for local consumption. The story of the Michele Chiarlo wine operation epitomizes the region’s evolution. Michele’s father and grandfather were simple grape growers. But in 1956 his father took the radical step of bottling his own wine. The operation grew and prospered so that today the annual production consists of 24 different cuvees, 100,000 cases in all. That’s over a million bottles. And his story is not unique. In Piemonte, as in Tuscany, producers realized in the 1970s and 80s that there was real money to be made from high-end http://www.usairwaysmag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of US Airways - August 2013

US Airways - August 2013
Table of Contents
CEO Letter
From the Editor
Did You Know?
Making It Happen
Hot Spots: Architectural Attractions
Wine & Dine: Italy's Gourmet Capital
Adventure: Diving for Dinner
Golf: The Wyndham Championship
Adventure: Drive Time at Bondurant
Great Escapes: Riu Resorts
Gear Up: Tools to Stay Cool
Travel Feature: Seattle's Outdoor Delights
US Airways: Staffing the Skies
Health Matters: Rapid Recovery
Special Section: Historically Black Colleges & Universities
Must Read: The Book of Immortality
Great Dates: Euphoria Festival
Puzzles
Readers Resource Index
Your US Airways Guide
Video Entertainment
Audio Entertainment
U.S. and Caribbean Service Map
International Service Map
Airport Terminal Maps
US Airways Fleet/Customs & Immigration
Passenger Info/Contact US Airways
US Airways MarketPlace®
Giving: Pulling Together
Window or Aisle?

US Airways - August 2013