“The Quest for the Holy Barolo - Finale
- John Zuchero
- Oct 29
- 7 min read
The last few days in the Barolo region ends with four wineries that have been identified as having wines with the characteristics John is searching for: minerality, flintiness, tar, and graphite. Those may sound strange, but that’s his “quest”.
What is stranger was how he identified the next four wineries. He used ChatGPT, the AI tool that’s all the buzz in the last few months. John has been having a running dialogue with “Chatty” and it identified three of the four wineries left that may fit the bill. The fourth winery comes from Alessio Marin, our guide back the second day here. Alessio’s name even helped get John a spot in an already filled group for a tour and tasting.
Saturday - 10/25/25 - 9:30 am. Azelia winery. Since we have two visits today, Nancy decided to sit this early morning tasting out. John was met by Lorenzo Scavino, the fifth generation of winemakers at the Azelia winery, who works with his father to produce a number of excellent wines. John was able to get a spot for this tasting with a lovely group of people from outside Seattle and a young man from Hong Kong. The tour was very interesting, especially the new barrel room, which was dug into the side of a hill. The picture below shows how the far wall is concrete pillars against the soil of the hill. Three different layers of soil can be seen, each dating back millions of years. You could see the roots of some on the vines—reaching down 10 meters (33 feet) through the soil above. The desire to survive is in everything.
Before everyone else arrived, Lorenzo and John were talking. Lorenzo asked where John was from and he said both Oregon and Philadelphia. Wouldn’t you know it, Lorenzo loves Philly and is a good friend of Mark Vetri, a famous chef in Philly. For John’s last major birthday, Nancy secretly made reservations at Vetri Cucina, Mark’s eponymous restaurant. Lorenzo has even been to dinner there—in the private upstairs dining room. Though he has not been to Oregon, he has a significant distributor and friend there, E&R Wine Shop in Portland. He is sending the owner John’s name as an introduction. We can’t wait to try it.
The Wines: At Azelia, we tasted seven wines starting with a Barbera d’ Alba and going through six different Barolos. The first, second and third Barolos (Barolos 20-22) were very nice, but not the winner. The San Rocco (#23) from the area of Seralunga was definitely close, and if the other three wineries don’t show it up, this might be the winner.
You should understand that John never expected to locate the “exact” wine that he had in 1999, but he hoped to find a wine that his long-term ‘sensory memory’ would appreciate as similar.
Saturday - 10/25/25 - 2:30pm. We drove to Azienda Agricolo - Conterno Fantino, or so we thought we did. GPS got us to a gated property. John got out to look for an intercom and found three buzzers all with different combinations of the words Conterno and Fantino. When John pushed one a woman answered. He said that he was here for a tasting. She briskly replied that this was NO winery. We drove away, put the winery's address back in Google Maps and were redirected to a place very close, which turned out to be the winery. That’s when John remembered that the email from this winery specifically spelled out that GPS was a little funky and we should follow the map they sent, which John didn’t have with him! But we arrived and were not even late.
This is the first ChatGPT recommended winery. We liked the wines, especially the Barbera d’ Alba, but none of the Barolos (#24-27) hit the mark.
Sunday - 10/26/25 - 10:00. Massolino winery in the town of Serralunga. Whoops! As we were sitting having our morning coffee, John checked his information on today’s winery. Turned out he messed up. Massolino isn’t until Tuesday. So, we decided to finish the blog of the quest part 2. We started at 8:00 am and because of a flaky system, we had to do the blog over three times—it didn't help that we started sipping wine at 10:30. Finally finished in time for a nap. Needless to say, no winery for today but we laughed a lot!
Around sundown, we heard what sounded like fireworks. Going outside we saw a display up on the far hillside across the valley. We’ve noticed the place up there looked like it could be another winery. So, they must have had a Sunday evening fireworks display for fun.
Monday - 10/27/25 - 11:00am. Poderi Colla winery. ChatGPT told John that this winery has a Barolo with “Classic mineral-tar character; that it’s elegant yet stony, with a long flinty finish.” John hopes Chatty is right. We’ll soon see.
The drive from the Yellow House to the Poderi Colla was our second longest at about 36 minutes. When we say 36 minutes, you might think miles of traveling; this trip was only 10 miles, but on the most windy, circuitous rollercoaster of a road you can imagine—most of it was single lane but with two way traffic and very few guardrails. 😵💫😵💫😵💫
We finally arrived and were met by Mario, the guide for the winery. There was another couple expected to be with us, but they were a half hour out. We walked through the vineyard and finally entered the Museum of Drago. This large room was filled with the history of the winery that was started in 1703.
Finally the couple, from the Czech Republic, arrived and we began tasting. All in all we tasted 10 different wines. Nancy fell in love with the Barbera d’ Alba, very reminiscent of a nice Cabernet Sauvignon. We also tasted a Pinot Noir—the family was one of the first to plant this grape, which we know from our travels in Oregon.
But, John was enamored with the 2020 Barolo (#28), it smelled like an elementary school pencil (graphite) and ended with a long flinty taste on the back to the tongue; this Barolo is tied for the top spot with the San Rocco (#23). The 2021 Barolo (#29) was nice too, but a bit young; Mario said to give it a couple of years.
The Czech couple come to Piedmont once a year to buy wine, so they left with 520€ of wine, while we left with three bottles.
After the tasting, we headed to Carlo’s BBQ, where John wanted to try the ribs. Because we had been to the adjoining restaurant for pizza, they remembered us and told us our “usual” table was available.
John got the ribs and French fries and Nancy got grilled vegetables and a seafood salad. All this accompanied by a nice bottle of Barberesco.
Tuesday - 10/28/25 - 10:30am. Finally on to Massolino. We left the Yellow House and drove six minutes to our last winery of the quest. As we were driving we came across the abandoned house below. We laughed—after the beautiful Yellow House, this is the house we just might be able to afford!
At Massolino were met by Valentina, who showed us, along with a brother and sister traveling pair from North Carolina, around this very large winery tucked into the tiny town of Surralunga. The barrel rooms and work areas were carved into the hill under the town square.
Some Asides: We learned many things today: there is no irrigation allowed in Barolo and all harvesting must be done by hand as stipulated by the government organization (DOCG) that ensures a wine's quality and consistency. (Plus, the steep hills make it almost impossible to use machinery). The exception was 2021. Since there was almost no rain, the DOCG allowed the vintners to water the grapes.
We also found the following article very informative about how the land affects the taste and body of the wines in this region. We also learned that each of the vintners were concerned about climate change. Since they have kept records of all manner of weather over the last 150 years, they have seen the changes in the climate.
“Climate change is a significant challenge for Barolo, leading to higher average temperatures and more frequent extreme weather, which forces producers to adapt their vineyard management and winemaking techniques. Strategies include early harvesting to preserve acidity, using canopy management to protect grapes, and increasing sustainable and organic practices to improve soil resilience. Producers are also exploring potential vineyard expansion to cooler, higher-altitude, or more northerly-facing slopes to maintain quality and regional identity.” *
As we toured the winery, John mentioned his quest to Valentina. The wine he wanted to taste wasn’t on the list of wines we were to sample. But after hearing his story, she opened a bottle of 2022 Barolo Margheria (#30). ChatGPT said it was one John would like. It was very good and will probably be better in a few years, but for now, quite nice.
Nancy in the cellar —The bottling and labeling machine—the brother and sister from N. Carolina. FYI - the gentleman from North Carolina wants to become a Master of Vinegar. He was so knowledgeable of the history of vinegar. There are some that are well over 100 years old!
And, the winner is?
Number 28, the 2020 from Poderi Colla winery and the Buccia sub region (far right) is the closest John can get to what he remembers. The Barolo from Massolino (#30) is second and the Barolo from Azelia (#23) is a close third.
Well, we guess that’s the end of the Barolo Quest—for now. We managed to taste 30 Barolo wines from a handful of wineries that produce it; there are an estimated 300 wineries in Piedmont that produce Barolo wine. Maybe another trip at another time—if Nancy says it’s okay. 👍🏻
After we left the Massolino winery, we drove three hours to the town of Stresa on Lake Maggiore. We’ll spend a few days here before returning home. Our first afternoon was sunny and bright. We walked around town, had a late lunch, and drove the windy roads to our last rental. Here’s what it looked like on Tuesday afternoon, looking out at the lake from the deck.
Day two around Stresa turned out to be a bust—rainy and foggy. We didn’t even leave the house because the roads are so narrow and the fog is so dense.
The owner of this rental, Patrice left us pasta, sauce, a beautiful cheese reminiscent of Parmesan-Reggiano…so it looks like a pasta and wine night as we look out at the lake.
the Very Best,
John and Nancy
P.S.
While walking around Stresa, we happened upon a panetteria (bakery). The pictures below are for Dave Dunbar, our resident Mr. Sweet Tooth in Portland.
Sounds wonderful <3
Love reading your blogs! It sounds like you had a wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing your adventures! ❤️❤️