When you land in Europe and you're a bit jetlagged and room is not ready the next best thing you can do is find yourself as the first entrants of a tasting room where there's lots of interesting things to discover.

I feel like I need to find the name of this store since the pricing was pretty good and I absolutely loved the proprietor who is a barolo native with some family in the states. We got a few random bottles for the trip here.

I remember dinner at this place last year and mostly an oven baked egg dish with truffles that was one of those very memorable dishes. This was good. Perhaps even very good. Wine list was a bit tougher though and looking back from the end of the trip I'd say that colored the experience a bit.

Last year we went into this shop to taste a few things and they had an amazing selection and I got pulled out to go to 'Barololand' (which is not marked anywhere on the building. Now we know. So we went through a few glasses and went back to get a bunch of stuff sent to the US as our upcoming wine club tasting is a Barbaresco theme.

Should also note this was the only Cappellano we had on the trip which was prob a miss as it was maybe my favorite in what was clearly a very strong line-up.

A definite miss last year. This place was just awesome. I wish we could do another dinner. Everything was so very top notch from the wine list to the food to the amount of truffles that ended up on a dish. It has earned a place in a regular line-up for us.

This is a place we ended up last year and bought a few fun bottles so since it was raining we found ourselves back again. Did a few glass tastings. Appreciated the breadth of their offering esp in terms of what they have for sale with some good deals to be found if you look hard enough.

This is a restaurant that is prob a bit more wine than food. The people here know what they are doing and they love it. We ran into a group celebrating multiple birthdays and they saw our table with Selosse and Roagna and realized they had some kindred spirits. The first bottle poured was a Riesling that I didn't get a picture of. The last few were shared as well. Overall a lovely meal and one where we found ourselves still consuming lunch 3 hours later.

Last year this dinner totally did me in and while this year I got through every course but the dessert it is quite a lot. If you come at this time of year you must do the white truffle menu. It is well worth it, just probably better to not have had a 3 hour lunch right before. Overall delicious. And a fun wine list to boot!

This is the kindof winery I might have gone to for the name (Baio being a type of horse). I'm not sure it was exactly our wheelhouse. The wines were fine, but not something I will be seeking out. Of the group Pora probably my favorite.

Hadn't originally planned to go here but they had a tasting room in downtown Barbaresco and we were early for our lunch appointment. Just tried the 50 year anniversary wine. This has never been my producer of choice, but I can respect that they make a nice wine.

When you walk in you are greeted by big meat lockers which makes it clear what you should be thinking of eating. This was a menu I'd have liked to say 'yes' to most everything. Instead we all got a bunch of different stuff and there was lots of sharing. Steak was good (unfortunately out of the Chateaubriand which i think would have been amazing). Also enjoyed the goose plin quite a bit. And as we've yet to manage a visit to Roagna kept the tradition of at least ordering for some meals alive.

This place was packed - perhaps one of the busiest spots that we've visited. A bit less modern than the morning but still with the french oak although sounds like they were more comfortable with aging them. Overall I enjoyed it. The wine was nice and nicely priced and something I'd keep an eye out for in the future with some age.

Had been wanting to try this place given that it's connected to Duomo and was interested in their take on the Piedmontese comfort food. Didn't diisappoint (the ragu was one of the best that we've had). Overall a great meal. Took it a bit easier as we'd had a few big days in a row, but still quite nice

This was a charming tasting. Interesting to speak to a member of the family who is in the fifth generation of wine making. I think we understood a bit more about the Bussia region as well. As one of the biggest MGAs it had never made as much sense to me. Also got a better feel for how the heyday of potentially expanding in Barolo is getting cut off for most of the family based wineries. Wonder what impact that will have going forward.

One of the highlights of the trip for me. The food here was perfectly excellent and the wine list was really fun. Tons of interesting producers and while we went with a three wine lunch it would have been easy to find a number of others that we were interested in. Some of the best wine service we've seen all trip. A true gem.

This is a place you see a ton of around the US and we've ordered a few times when we want a moderately priced barolo (esp as some with age can be available on wine lists and similar). To me they are solid wines. Not one to knock your socks off, but feels like every time we have them we like them.

First time at this place. The thing about food in Alba is that every place is basically amazing and so when you like one a bit more or one a bit less I think at the end of the day it's a bit of splitting hairs. This I didn't like quite as much as I have liked other places, but all of the food was still good. Wine list was reasonable and easy to follow, but did seem like a few of the ones we were most excited about weren't available unfortunately. Overall good, but given how tough the food scene is in Alba I wouldn't be surprised if this didn't make it into the regular line-up.

There are times where I think it's very clear that this is something that is a hobby, and I'm meant to be an amateur and barrel tasting is one of those times. I just don't really love it. Seems to kill the palate and the wine (as it's not meant to be ready) is not ready. Or even close. Then again, when you get the chance to tag along with Luca Vietti in his cellar the correct answer has to be 'yes'. So off we went through all the different barrels from the different vineyards from '17-19. While I didn't enjoy the barrel tastes so much, there are two new vineyards coming online that I think will be spectacular and listening to Luca talk about how he views wine and the family history and all of that made it well worth it. And at the end he opened up the new '16s so I took some notes on those at least.

A favorite lunch spot of mine from the previous year mostly because I really enjoyed their ragu. Still delicious. And had the parmesan risotto with truffle which was also great. A bit rushed in this case which was a pity, but a spot that we'll continue to seek out as it's always quite tasty.

Another really charming place. Interesting to see some of the differences between producers where wine has been in the family for five or six generations and ones where it's much more recent. Second generation family which are doing some nice barbarescos and really very well priced. Have not seen them on many lists or in the US much at all, but the kindof wine I'd look for in a restaurant since the mark-up would feel less egregious.

I finally found the purveyors of one of my favorite egg dishes of last year. Which was yet again truly delicious. Also appreciated the ragu. So a great overall meal. Decent wine list. Roagna continues to be a go-to for me and never disappoints.

One of the tastings we loved last year since the winery is clearly classic and the wines are very good. Fun to be back and to do some mini verticals and horizontals to understand how 2012 and 2013 affected the wines.

This was recommended to us by a person in the restaurant business in NY so we were excited to try. Everything well done and overall enjoyable. Also fun to see that they support their neighbors and had a wines from of the really nearby places that haven't been at other spots.

I was tentatively excited about this one - I'd read some tasting notes on Piedmont that included this place along with many of my favorite spots and so I hoped that I might like it as well. Not disappointed. This is one of my favorite visits we've done.

New spot for us although we'd tried to go last year (it is better if you have a reservation). Everything was really good and the ragu dish was just amazing. Perhaps would have gone with a more basic moscato as this was a pretty big meal and I was looking for just the light touch, but a place I'd love to return to next year. Also very much enjoyed the wine list with some fun bottles that had a touch more age.

It is impossible to not be completely charmed by Maria Teresa and her passion for wine. We often ask about favorite vintages and everyone talks about the 'classics' or 'fresh' ones and she talks about all of the struggles and the places where the wheat gets separated from the chafe (my words, not hers). And it's true that every wine we've had from her has been just lovely. The Freisa with it's bit of bubbles also a bit interesting.

We were running a bit early for our lunch and so found ourselves in the next door Damilano tasting room. Had a lovely dinner with these wines at Ai Fiori last year and fun to revisit the place.

Another repeat from last year but well worth the trip. I think the only Michelin place we did and I always forget all of the extra food that seems to come with those. Still, it was all delicious. First time to have truffles with lobster and while perhaps the barolo didn't totally agree, I did. Great 'last' meal.

A winery that was on our original list for a visit but towards the bottom and I was a bit unsure how I felt. Was pleasantly surprised. This is clearly part of the history of the place and someone who experienced all of the stages (from the full farm because you can't make money off just barolo through to a lot of investment in new vineyards and a winery and truly making it into a family business). The stories were great and the wines were fun to try.

Always you end up with a few times where you want to pop something just to hang out and we're lucky enough to have an Air Bnb with some good hang out spots.