This review is for the 5 day Grape Trotters Piemonte tour in September of 2021. If you read nothing else, know that if you enjoy wine, the Grape Trotters tours are second to none. I have visited Italy several times, and in 2019 I had the opportunity to take a couple of the Tuscany in a Bottle day trips (Brunello and Elite Cru) which were magnificent. However, I discovered that they also offered multi-day trips in several regions of Italy and France. My original trip was for the Rhone region of France, which was supposed to depart in June of 2021. Covid got in the way of that trip, but the Piemonte tour was still a go in September of 2021. The stress levels were high as the trip approached given the pandemic, but I received an email a couple weeks beforehand confirming the trip would proceed! Our group was small, only 8 people, which included Rebecca, our guide. Every day was amazing. I had thought that once we went to Barolo, the trip would go downhill, but I was 100% wrong. I learned about Roero and Barbera, Arneis and Timarasso, and several other varietals. One might think this tour was for wine experts, but not at all. Its for anyone who enjoys wine. Aside from the pleasure of trying so many different wines, I learned a staggering amount about the region. We visited several wineries that have limited exports to the US, and they provide contact info if you would like to stay in touch. Two of the wineries produce fewer than 20,000 bottles per year, and they make some spectacular wines. I believe only one of the wineries had any substantial exports to the US. Rebecca handled all the shipping to save us some money (its a bit pricier to ship from the winery, though you can if you want to) and I shipped a lot of wine. Beyond wine, every restaurant we ate at was well researched and spectacular. Some places had a course menu with a wine pairing and others were a la Carte. We even got to have lunch at one of the wineries where the food was prepared by the mother of the winery owner. On top of that there was still plenty of time on your own to do some exploring. The hotel was the top rated hotel in Alba, and the staff was wonderful. I have never had a better trip to Italy, or anywhere else. If you enjoy wine, you MUST try one of these tours.