This would be the last day there’d be anything like a long option for riding. Typically Backroads gives people a few options and today was no exception and you could opt for a pretty short ride to a wine tour/tasting and picnic lunch (and then shuttle back in a van) or you could bolt on an extra loop in the morning to make it close to 30 miles before hitting the tour/tasting and lunch, and then if you felt like more riding, you could bike back to the hotel too. I took all the options and got in a pretty good ride with plenty of time left to just hang out at the pool for a while before a fantastic last dinner with everyone.

We lucked out again with the weather. At the end of the 4th day, we once again got just a little bit of rain. But by morning it was beautiful again and maybe even just a little chilly. The ride out to the winery/lunch + bolted on loop was a roller. If you look at the Garmin details by clicking thru the map, you can see we had plenty of ups and downs. After those first ~30 miles, I was ready for that picnic lunch despite having the usual bountiful breakfast options (which almost always included mounds of some local cheeses and meats). I shouldn’t have been hungry but the hills were a workout.

The wine tour and tastings at Marchesi Alfieri were pretty good. We did some other tastings during the bike tour but this was the only winery visit we made. After the winery tour they had us tasting three of their wines. 1st was a Barbara D’Asti (La Tota), the 2nd was their Barbara D’Asti Superiore (AlfierA) and the 3rd was a Nebbiolo from the Monferrato region (the Costa Quaglia).

The 1st Barbara was an easy drinking and fruity wine. Lots of dark fruit but not much structure to it. The Barbara Superiore really stepped it up a notch and according to the woman that helped us with the tour and tasting, it was their best wine. Lots more going on. Dark fruit but also notes of oak and spice and some tannins to give it a nice structure though not overly so. My fav of the three. The Nebbiolo was just so so. Too thin and light for my taste.

By the time we finished the tour/tasting and a picnic lunch we were well into the afternoon. These kind of plush events are nice but they do make it a little hard to get back on the bike.

The afternoon option for riding back to the hotel included a long, steep 5K+ climb. It had warmed up at that point and so it was long and winding enough to having me wondering “ok, when’s this uphill going to end?”. But, I was back by 4’ish and out to lounge by the pool for a bit. We had plenty of time till dinner (meeting at 7:30’ish).

The restaurant at the hotel was said to be a Michelin rated though I couldn’t find evidence of that online nor in evidence at the restaurant. But in any case, it was really quite good and I liked the old wine cellar setting. The wine list was a thick as the phone book of a sizable town. They started us with some snacks and then moved to (at least for me) a big green salad. I then moved on to the primi course of risotto and finished with a main of some beef that I’d characterize more like really tender roast beef. I should have taken a snap of the menu to be more exact than that but that’s the quick and dirty.