Barbaresco is a hill, a village, a tower and a wine, and in the Langhe those things are hard to separate. The village sits on a ridge above the Tanaro river a few kilometres northeast of Alba, its medieval brick tower standing over rows of vines that roll off in every direction like a green sea frozen mid-swell. Together with the neighbouring Barolo country and the Roero and Monferrato, these hills form the vineyard landscape of Piedmont listed by UNESCO in 2014.
The grape is Nebbiolo, named, some say, after the autumn fog, the nebbia, that settles in the valleys at harvest time. Barbaresco wine is pale garnet, fragrant and firm, and the cellars of the village and of nearby Neive and Treiso welcome visitors, often with a tasting in a cool vaulted room. Neive, with its well preserved hilltop core, is one of the prettiest villages in Italy by any measure. And then there is Alba, famous for its white truffles; the international truffle fair runs on autumn weekends, and the whole town smells of them. Ferrero, the chocolate company behind Nutella, began here too.
For riding, the Langhe could have been designed by someone who loves motorcycles. Narrow roads climb and fall over ridges, linking villages with views of the Alps on the horizon, and every crest brings a new vista. The bends are endless, sometimes tight and steep, often lined by vines rather than barriers. Watch out for tractors at harvest, gravel washed onto the road after storms, cyclists and visitors driving slowly as they look for wineries. Spring and autumn are perfect, with October bringing golden vines and that famous fog in the mornings.
Alba has around twenty-five thousand people and plenty of fuel and services, and small towns nearby have petrol stations too. Food is part of the pilgrimage: vitello tonnato, tajarin pasta with butter and sage or truffle, and hazelnut cake made with the local nuts. If you plan to taste, arrange a stop for the night, because the hills around here deserve to be ridden with a clear head.