There’s something about an evening done Italian-style. For one, there’s always great food and excellent wine to go with it and finally there’s the warmth of the hosts. For Italians, much of the best of life happens with friends and family around a table laden with food and wine.

And so it was with the Abbona ladies. Anna Abbona, wife of Ernesto Abbona of Marchesi di Barolo, and her daughter Valentina see themselves as ambassadors of their brand. But it’s more than a brand to them. Their wines are living, breathing products and they are the proud family members, descendants of Pietro Abbona of Marchesi di Barolo of Piedmont, who spread the word – through good food, wine and conversation around the dinner table. Anna says as much, “An evening is made by good food, good wine and good company.” The wine, I would add, is the protagonist.

And so it was at the Marchesi di Barolo wine dinner at Le Cirque Signature restaurant at the Leela Palace, Bangalore that evening. The Abbona ladies were warm, friendly hosts, introducing and discussing their wines and their region (Langhe, in Piedmont, is a UNESCO Heritage site) with genuine love and affection, and the conversation moved along easily, touching on both the personal and the professional.

Far from being an occasional India visitor Valentina is familiar with India hand, having had a month-long stint studying business at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad in 2009. Why India? “I was curious about India,” she said, “I wanted to go to Brazil to study but my parents wouldn’t agree.” It was a decision that worked well: she loved it so much, she wept when she left, she confessed. The India experience was an eye opener to the director of sales for the company, who now flies all over the world promoting her wines.

We start the dinner with the Gavi, Marchesi di Barolo 2013 paired with a rich white asparagus soup with wild mushroom, black truffle pesto, basil oil. White wines aren’t really given their due in Italy, coming in second after their magnificent reds, but this one from Piedmont shows off the character it draws from its soil – sandy marl and clay which gives the Cortese grape its mineralty. Anna laughingly tells us the most common question she faces during her travels: “which wine is closest to Pinot Grigio?” (The correct answer is none.) But Pinot Grigio has become the ubiquitous white Italian wine, sweeping the west with its light, easy drinkability. As a result it has typecast all Italian white wines. Gavi, is in fact the name of a village just two hours from Barolo, the small Piedmontese village with a big name and a big wine. Barolo itself  has a mere 600 inhabitants. (“As you can imagine, everyone knows everything about you when you live in a small village like this,” she laughs.) (more…)