Despite the strike, customers were scrummaging ferociously for a sip of the best La Morra, Serralunga, Monforte and Castiglione Barolos money can buy. This is proving a really classic, structured vintage yet with enough generosity and fruit to allow us an exciting glimpse of even greater things in store. Wines from Gaja, Voerzio(pictured), Altare Scavino and Clerico, to name but a few, must make this tasting of Piedmont's best one of a kind in the UK

Two other highlights were Terre Nere's 2008 Etna Cru wines, arguably their best vintage so far, and a flight of undoubtedly the greatest ever wines to come out of Toro, the 2009 Teso la Monja wines were extraordinary and surely await high critical acclaim.

Excuse the radio silence, two and a half days of tasting young Barolo followed by a three hour journey east towards Treviso can take it out of you. Day 3 was a very spoiling one, visits to Roberto Voerzio, Paolo Scavino and Gaja. Our tasting with Enrico Scavino was sensational, a producer seemingly at the top of his game. After a brooding start to life, the 2005s seemed to have quickly come a long way after a couple of years in bottle, they will drink quite beautifully before too long, while we wait for the 2004s and 2006s. Their 2006s were intense, structured but always showing Scavino polish, they will be up there with the vintage's best. Gaja was everything I expected, great wines of huge intensity and length of flavour. The 2007s were luxurious and heady, the 2006s more restrained but highly sophisticated. However, the single most impressive array of wines during the Piedmont leg of our trip hail from Roberto Voerzio. From Dolcetto to Barolo, these are naturally made and very intense wines produced with unstinting attention to detail. The picture shows bunches from their Barbera Pozzo vineyard, they cut the bottom off all of their bunches, as the finest grapes are to be found at the top or "ears", where ripening takes place first. There is no La Serra 2006, the Voerzios weren't happy with the wine's aromas during ageing and so sold it off, this tells you all you need to know about them. The rest of their 2006s are impeccable - precise, ripe and definitely built to last.