Experience: truffles & fine wine

Experience the thrill of hunting for elusive Truffle and fine wine gems in locations known for having some of the best quality in the world. These three experiences, courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Milan, Savini Tartufi and Chateau Cos d’Estournel are our Top Three recommendations.

1.Mandarin Oriental, Milan: The White Truffle and Fine Wine Experience

Mandarin Oriental, Milan has launched a wine and culinary tour of neighbouring Piedmont, available from 1 October 2017. The White Truffle and Fine Wine Experience package will sample local wines during a private guided visit to a UNESCO-designated winery, and enjoy two gourmet meals at Michelin-star restaurants.

Home to Italy’s finest wines, including Barolo and Barbaresco, Piedmont is also renowned for its white truffle, a gourmet delicacy traditionally harvested in the wild between mid-September and early November.

Guests are taken to the town of Canelli in Asti province to visit the underground cellars of the 18th century Coppo Winery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A tutored wine tasting session with paired local products and a presentation on white truffles and truffle hunting techniques are included in the tour. Guests will receive a complimentary bottle of Riserva Coppo Brut Metodo Classico, the winery’s finest sparkling wine and a traditional truffle recipe.

After the winery tour, guests can savour a Michelin-starred lunch for two at San Marco Restaurant, which is set among rolling vineyards on the border between the Langhe and Monferrato wine-growing areas. A three-course taster dinner menu for two at Mandarin Oriental, Milan’s two Michelin-starred restaurant, Seta, run by the award-winning chef, Antonio Guida is the perfect way to sign off this experience.

2. Savini Tartufi: Truffle Experience (duration 4-5 hours)

Who better to do truffle hunting with than a fourth-generation truffle hunter who was once awarded a Guinness Book of Records title for the record price paid for a single white truffle at auction. (It was a 2 pound, 13-ounce Tuber magnatum pico truffle that sold for $330,000 to a buyer in Macau and was donated to charity).

An hour’s drive outside of Florence – you’re heading to the Montanelli Province of Pisa. Home to the Savini family, a family with truffles in their blood. And an area where the conditions are just perfect for truffles to grow in the nearby forests.

The day involves: truffle hunting in the morning followed by a decadent truffle-filled lunch. Think crostini and pasta (all topped with truffle) followed chocolate covered truffle ice creams.

When it comes to truffles, this family knows what they’re doing.

3. Cos d’Estournel

Chateau Cos d’Estournel is a winery in the Saint-Estephe appellation of Bordeaux. Only Cos d’Estournel’s most special visitors are invited to enter the owner’s private universe. Neither a hotel nor a château, the Chartreuse offers the personalised attention that is an innate part of life on the estate.

During this exclusive experience, guests are invited to participate in highly symbolic activities. Their journey will reveal many of the hidden aspects of the wines of the estate and shed light on some of the vineyard’s most well-kept secrets.

Chateau Cos d’Estournel is named after its 19th century owner, Louis-Gaspard d’Estournel, and it was he who built the bizarre oriental edifice that is a landmark for any tourist in the Médoc. Today Cos d’Estournel is without doubt the leading estate in St-Estéphe.

Contact your Insignia Personal Assistant for further details.