Dear all,

We hope you are all well!!

You get this newsletter because you signed up for newsletters from us at Cascina Ferrarotti www.ferrarotti.net – which we very much appreciate. Most of the time we use Facebook, Instagram or the Fotoblog at our website to send updates and information, but this time we wanted to send something to you as subscribers. Since you subscribed to “newsletters and offers”, we have also included an offer which you will find at the end of the post :-).

We hope it is OK that you receive the newsletter, but please tell us if you do not want to receive it in the future.

Anyway  - here is an update from us in the Alta Langa area in Piemonte :-).

The spring has arrived!! The fruit trees are blooming, the flowers in garden are waking up after the winter and the bees are very “buzzy”. We luckily have lots of wild bees in the area and the bee hotels are filling up. Geir has made new hotels, but it seems they still like the old ones more. It looks like the bees don’t like change -or maybe the hotel design is just not good enough… Will keep on trying!

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Strong hazelnut pollen allergy in hazelnut-land is not optimal…

Our hobby size vineyard - ready for 2025 Dolcetto DOCG (hopefully..)

 The spring has also arrived in our small vineyard. We pruned the vines in February to leave only one branch for this years’ grapes. The buds have not burst yet, but very soon things will start to happen. The branch is tied down to enable the canopy to grow upward in an (hopefully) orderly manner. The local wine farmers say that the Dolcetto plant are like young Italians – they grow wildly and all over the place. The Nebbiolo vines (basis for Barolo and Barbaresco wines) are a lot more structured and orderly.

Our vines are more than 70 years old and this year we started to plant new vines. Old vines are very good for the quality of the wine as they have a huge root system and goes deep down in the soil. Over time the vines however produce less, eventually fades away and need to be replaced. We are just “hobby-farmers” and can do the replanting over time to learn and step-wise add grapes from the new vines to the wine. The real / professional farmers would replant large areas in one year. For them it is a huge investment as it will take about 3 years to get new grapes ready for vinification. The quality of the grapes will increase as the vines grow older and the root system develops.     

Hopefully we will be luckier this year than the last. In early August last year a 10 minutes strong and very local hail storm destroyed the whole crop. Quite unusual weather, but it can obviously happen. We only got a few liters of grape juice… Fortunately we still have a lot of wine from the previous years for our family, friends and guests.

This year – as always.. - we are doing a lot of work in the garden. The previous years we have tried to make nice areas for our guests to relax and enjoy the view, including shielded benches and a pergola by the pool. This year we have planted more trees and flowers, made a new kitchen garden to grow various vegetables and made a large outdoor area in the private section of the property. It is very nice to develop the Ferrarotti property both for our guests and ourselves. Our objective is to make a place for tranquility and relaxation – a bit secluded from a world where just too much is going on.

Exploring to give advice :-)

Exploring the area is something we enjoy very much. This is of course also hard work, but someone has to do it ;-). The exploring enables us to provide advice to guests regarding what to do on vacation. We put quite a lot of the information on our website, but we are also normally around the house and are happy to help with suggestions and advice. There are for instance very nice spa-facilities in the Lurisia area just 30 minutes from here by car. Very nice after a walk in the mountains and/or for instance combined with a lunch at a traditional old Piemontese trattoria. Or sightseeing, visits to small villages and large cities, shopping, cycling through the beautiful landscape, an espresso and a gelato, dining in local trattorias or nearby restaurants serving exquisite dishes, just relaxing by the pool etc..etc..

And of course wine. We have visited several local family run wine producers making excellent wine. In the Barolo/Barbaresco/Dogliani area you can go to very famous and expensive wine producers, but you can also meet the local farmers (owners) themselves at their vineyards. Very, very nice people that explains enthusiastically about the work in the vineyard and how they make the wine. Highly recommendable and we are sure you will find some new favourite wines!

Winter cover is still on, but soon it will ready for a swim :-)

Also this year we plan to heat the pool from May 1, given that the weather is good for swimming and that the sun shines on the solar panels. Normally this should work well, given that the weather will be as it historically has been in the area. We’ll see - and we will certainly do our best to provide nice pool temperature for the guests already from the beginning of May. We want to to heat the pool in a sustainable way using solar power. Italy is increasing the production of electricity from renewable sources, but still +/- 50% is made from burning fossil fuel (gas). Electricity is also expensive in Italy and we need to heat 75 000 liters of water.

Last autumn we finally finished the first sustainability project which included solar panels, battery, two car chargers, air-to-water heat pump, additional insulation of the roof and new windows and doors in the whole house (puhh). A large and tiresome project, but now Ferrarotti will be self-provided using renewable energy for most of the year - including for heating the pool :-).

Then as promised, the offer :-). The month of May is (normally) wonderful in this area. The nature is blooming and there are lots of nice things to do. Piemonte and Alta Langa is a lot less touristic than for instance Toscana and the month of May it a very good time to visit the area. If you have time and would like a vacation in May, we can offer 20 - 30% reduced prices vs high season prices (higher discount on the largest apartments). Use voucher code “FerrarottiMay25” to get the discount when you book. This offer is valid for the recipients of this newsletter and persons travelling together with the recipients. Please contact us directly if you want to rent all apartments or if you have questions. The voucher code is only valid for stays in May 2025.

That’s all folks - we need to get working in the garden and prepare the apartments for the new season. This year we have added microwave ovens to the kitchens also to the largest apartments and made some small upgrades here and there. We are very much looking forward to meeting both new guests and returning guests / friends again!.

We hope it was OK to send this newsletter and that we’ll meet again somewhere, sometime soon :-).

In the meanwhile: enjoy life!

Anne and Geir

PS: If you want to contact us directly, we are always available on +393331810390, +4790509054 or post@ferrarotti.net