Piedmont Wine Tasting Tours
with Leigh Hooper and Toby Savage
Wine Tasting Tour
April 26th to 29th 2019
About us
Join us in Piedmont, Italy, for a long weekend of fine wines and excellent local food. You will stay in a 4 star family-run hotel with its own spa and enjoy four wine tastings with local producers, three dinners that celebrate local dishes using local produce and three simple lunches. Piedmont is still off the tourist routes, so relatively unspoilt. See our Flickr Album for previous highlights. Here's what The Guardian says about the region.
Fee of £499 includes Airport transfer from Milan Malpensa and all local logistics. Hotel, meals and tastings. Accommodation based on 2 sharing on a B&B basis. Minimum 8 people. Maximum 10 people. A deposit of £100 per person required by March 4th.
Leigh Hooper has a background in Advertising and Public Relations. Leigh has lived in Acqui Terme with his wife, Maura, for nearly 20 years and now works within the wine industry. He knows both the area and the local wines really well and the best places to enjoy a cracking aperitivo!
Toby Savage is a Photographer and has been Leigh's guest on many occasions during that 20 years. Toby has experience at running small tours in exotic parts of the World. For the last six years he has taken groups of Photographers around Morocco for Helicon Arts - a trip that will continue in parallel with this project.
Itinerary.
26th to 29th April 2019
This tour will run with a minimum of 8 guests and a maximum of 10. The fee will include return airport transfers (Milan Malpensa – Acqui Terme – Milan Malpensa) and being driven to all of the wine tastings and, where applicable, restaurants.
In the event of fewer than 8 confirmed guests, deposits will be refunded in full.
Provision can be made for those wishing to cycle between venues! It is stunning countryside.
Not included are drinks during meals or when we have an aperitivo.
Friday
Guests will be met by Leigh & Toby in our Minibus at Milan - Malpensa (Get an early flight. Gatwick or Luton) At the time of writing this 11/2/19 EasyJet are quoting £86 return from Luton. This may be
subject to change of course.
Light snack/lunch en route
Check in to the 4 Star Hotel located in the heart of the spa town of Acqui Terme - our base for the four days. Accommodation is on a B&B basis for two people sharing a junior suite. This includes free use of their Spa and the breakfasts are home made and beyond ample!
Having checked in and freshened up our minibus will take you to Nizza for your first tasting at La Gironda in the centre of the most famous and prestigious production area for Barbera d’Asti under the Nizza Cru. We shall taste wines produced by Susanna, and her husband Alberto.
The minibus will then return us all to Acqui Terme where we shall meet for an aperitivo in a local bar. Perhaps our favourite Italian
tradition is the aperitivo, a drink and some delicious nibbles that takes place at the end of the workday as a gentle livener prior to dinner.
Evening meal at Pandy’s (that’s the owner’s name, the trattoria is called La Cariolosa) - a very traditional Italian restaurant in the centre of Acqui Terme. 3 courses - starter, pasta or main and pud.
Saturday
After breakfast our minibus will collect you from the hotel and we head to Strevi to visit the Marenco sisters, Michela, Patricia and
Loretta, who run the Marenco vineyard. We shall have a light lunch there in the wine tasting room.
From Strevi we drive across the village to Giulio Arnera. Here we shall be guests of the affable Toro, Giulio’s son, whose boundless
enthusiasm for his wines is infectious. He makes a seriously good Chardonnay and a choice of other reds and whites. His Dolcetto, a local red, is a must-try.
The minibus will then return us all to Acqui Terme where we shall meet for an aperitivo in a local bar.
Evening meal at the hotel where they pride themselves on a good
selection of home produced local specialities.
Sunday
A leisurely start to the day perhaps. After breakfast a chance to
freshen the palate with some award winning sparkling wines at
Contratto. To quote Monica Larner in The Wine Advocate, August 2018
‘Contratto makes about 200,000 bottles per year, and this is seriously some of the best sparkling wine found in Italy, distinguished by the distinctive Art Deco designs on the bottle. These wines are very impressive.’
We shall follow this with a good lunch near Canelli before returning to the hotel in Acqui.
Sunday afternoon at your leisure. Perhaps in the Hotel Spa, or some shopping.
Monday
Minibus back to Milan Malpensa and fly home.
Booking terms and conditions
These general conditions, together with the booking form, comprise the contract between the client and Piedmont Wine Tasting Tours accommodation, meals, airport transfers, course fees, excursions and entertainment where stated.
Piedmont Wine Tasting Tours may at any time replace or amend the advertised programme where it is found to be unavoidable, to ensure the smooth running of the holiday.
1. Deposit and balance
Completion of the booking form indicates acceptance of these terms and conditions. A booking is not confirmed until a deposit has been received by us. Once booked, you are obliged to pay the price of the holiday and you remain liable should you wish to alter or cancel the holiday. The final balance is due two weeks before departure. If you book within two weeks of departure, you must pay the full balance at the time of booking. If you wish to pay your balance via instalments, please let us know at the time of booking.
2. Cancellations
a) Piedmont Wine Tasting Tours must be notified in writing of all cancellations. If you wish to cancel after confirmation of the booking has already been sent, the following cancellation charges apply:
42+ days before start date: £100 (deposit)
28-41 days before start date: 50% of total cost
27-15 days before start date: 75% of total cost
14 days before start date: 100% of total cost
Note: if the reason for cancellation is covered under the terms of your travel insurance policy, we can provide a cancellation certificate.
No refunds can be made if you leave the course after its commencement.
b) If the minimum participation level of 6 guests has not been reached, we reserve the right to alter, change or cancel the holiday. In the unlikely event that we have to cancel, we will refund all monies paid.
c) We also reserve the right to cancel the holiday as a result of hostilities, political unrest or other circumstances amounting to a force majeure.
3. Changes to your booking
If, after our confirmation has been issued, you wish to change something we will endeavour to accommodate your request, subject to availability.
4. Liability and insurance
Piedmont Wine Tasting Tours maintains a public liability policy covering legal liability for bodily injury and property damage arising out of its business. Our insurance does not cover cancellation, loss of baggage or money, damage to property or personal injury, except when arising from negligence. It is a condition of your contract with Piedmont Wine Tasting Tours that you take out insurance to cover you in the event of cancellation, illness, repatriation, personal injury or death during the course of any holiday booked with us. This cover should be in place at the time of booking to ensure your deposit is protected.
5. Passport and visas
Participants are responsible for ensuring that they have a valid passport and or/visas as required to cover travel to and from their chosen destination. In most cases your passport must be valid for six months from your return date home.
6. Health
For travel within the EU, all participants should have a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) in case of medical emergency. You can apply online at www.ehic.org.uk or telephone 0845 606 2030.
Post Brexit we do not know yet whether this will still operate.
7. Travel and excursions
Passengers are responsible for ensuring that they are at the correct departure point at the correct time. Please note that if you miss your transfer, you will be responsible for your own travel to the course venue. Piedmont Wine Tasting Tours cannot be liable for any loss or expense resulting from late arrival at any departure point. Excursions are included in the price of most holidays and refunds cannot be made for passengers not wishing to participate in these excursions.
8. Complaints Procedure
If you have a complaint during your holiday you must inform a member of Piedmont Wine Tasting Tours staff at the earliest opportunity, who will do their utmost to resolve the problem immediately. If the matter cannot be resolved during the holiday, please notify us in writing within 28 days of your return.
9. Photography
During our holidays we regularly take photographs and videos of guests or staff which may be used for future publicity purposes. Acceptance of a place on a course implies consent for your image to appear in our publicity materials. If you do not wish your image to appear on such materials please let us know in advance of your holiday.
10. Conduct
Regulations made for the safety and comfort of the course must be observed. We reserve the unconditional right to refuse a booking or terminate a client’s holiday in the event of unreasonable conduct which in our opinion is likely to cause damage, distress, danger or annoyance to other clients, employees, property or to any third party. If you are prevented from travelling or continuing your holiday by such a termination, Piedmont Wine Tasting Tours responsibility for your holiday thereupon ceases. Full cancellation charges will apply and we will be under no obligation for any refund, compensation or loss you may incur.
11. Financial Protection
Please refer to Your financial protection for details of our financial failure cover.
CONTACT US
Toby Savage,
Leicester.
LE2 1TD
Leigh Hooper,
Acqui Terme
15010 (AL)