<a target="_blank" href="https://www.osteriaveglio.it/">Osteria Veglio</a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.osteriaveglio.it/">

</a>Frazione Annunziata, 9

12064 La Morra (CN)Tel. +39 0173 509341

BY IAN D'AGATA | SEPTEMBER 19, 2019The Food: 

Veal
in tuna sauce (Vitello tonnato)Candied
salt cod, pea cream, seirass and
spring vegetables (Baccalà candito, crema
di piselli, seirass e verdure primaverili)Traditional
tajarin with veal ragù (Tajarin tradizionali al ragù di vitello)Veal
tripe lightly creamed and au gratin (Trippa mista di vitella mantecata e
leggermente gratinata)Oven-roasted
kid and potatoes (Capretto da latte
arrostito con patate al forno)Bunet











Panna cottaThe Wines: <table>
 <tbody><tr>
 <td>2017 Giovanni Almondo Arneis Roero Bricco delle
 Ciliegie</td>
 <td>91</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2015 Wittmann Riesling
 Kirchspiel GG Rheinhessen</td>
 <td>92</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2016 Giuseppe Mascarello &amp;
 Figlio Mascarello Freisa Langhe Toetto</td>
 <td>90</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2014 Cappellano Barolo Otin
 Fiorin Pié Franco&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
 <td>?</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2011 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco
 Albesani Vigna Santo Stefano</td>
 <td>93</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>NV Cappellano Barolo Chinato</td>
 <td>92</td>
 </tr></tbody></table> <img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1568916210801-Osteria+Veglio+by+day_copy.jpg"> Osteria Veglio by day 

There
is a lot to like about Osteria Veglio: the location (in La Morra’s bucolic Annunziata neighborhood), the cleverly
refurbished interior of an already charming old country school building, and
the terrace overlooking a beautiful Langhe panorama, a truly magical spot for a
late spring or summer dinner.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1568917078986-Baccal%C3%A0_copy.jpg"> Candied salt cod, pea cream,&nbsp;seirass&nbsp;and spring vegetables This country restaurant is now run by two couples who took over in 2006. Emanuel
Marengo and Massimo Corso are the chef, while Cristina Dalzotto (wife of
Massimo and sister of Emanuel) and Caterina Zahn, Emanuel’s significant other, run
the front of the house. The two chefs have serious culinary training under
their belts. Emanuel worked as Ugo Alciati’s sous chef at the Villa Reale in
Serralunga d’Alba, while Massimo was previously the chef of the once highly
touted La Libera restaurant in Alba. The women have similarly impressive
resumes, as they also plied their trade in the same two restaurants where their
husbands cooked. Just think how society has changed over the centuries: now it’s
the men who cook while the women are out in the dining room talking to the
guests and running the show.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1568917097130-tajarin_copy.jpg"> Traditional&nbsp;tajarin&nbsp;with veal&nbsp;ragù Osteria Veglio specializes in traditional, precisely rendered Piedmontese
classics (vitello tonnato, tajarin, bunet),
but seafood dishes are available too. The ingredients are first-rate; the chefs,
for example, often hit the road very early in the morning to buy the best
possible fish at Turin’s market. My most recent meal at Veglio was outstanding
– in fact, the best I’ve ever had there. I had invited three very famous French
winemakers and their wives, individuals who are used to the finer things in
life, and they came away just as impressed by the Osteria Veglio experience as
I was.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1568917113147-capretto_copy.jpg"> Oven-roasted kid and potatoes On this night, the vitello tonnato
was its usual standout self, the tuna lending pungency of flavor and creamy
support to the precisely cooked and thinly sliced veal. The tajarin had just the right spring to
their texture, and the meat sauce was both flavorful and present in the right
amount. Tripe is one of my favorite dishes – along with innards in general, though
it really couldn’t be otherwise with any true denizen of Rome – and Veglio’s tripe
is some of the best I’ve had outside of the capital city, so that’s real
praise. The roast kid was succulent and flavorful, and the very traditional
Piedmontese desserts that I can never get enough of (bunet, panna cotta) were perfectly rendered. <img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1568916505322-bunet_copy.jpg"> Bunet 

Osteria Veglio’s wine list, like the food, was always good, but it has also
steadily improved over the years. Of course, it offers many different Barolos,
with all the big and usual names well represented, but there has also been a
conscious and commendable effort to include wines made from lesser-known and
underrated Langhe varieties, such as Freisa. Some readers might find it curious
that Osteria Veglio boasts a page (slightly more, actually) devoted to Rieslings
made outside of Italy, but in fact Riesling is so popular in Italy right now
that numerous restaurants all over the country offer “Riesling lists” (and many
Piedmontese producers are now trying their hand at the grape, with mixed
results). Furthermore, Katharina Zahn loves Riesling, so the strong presence of
these wines in Osteria Veglio’s wine list is no surprise.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1568916513889-panna+cotta_copy.jpg"> 

Panna cotta Our group kicked off with a
surefire crowd pleaser, the 2017 Giovanni Almondo Arneis Roero
Bricco delle Ciliegie. Despite the hot vintage, it proved sufficiently bright and focused in
its white flower, nectarine and soft citrus aromas and flavors. This lovely
wine impressed my French guests (it’s always a good sign when the French start
touting the merits of an Italian wine!), but I have had more chiseled, well-delineated
vintages of this wine. Let’s face it, 2017 was just too darn hot. Next up was
the 2015 Wittmann Riesling Kirchspiel GG
Rheinhessen, an outstanding German Riesling that provided a little more
body and savory oomph than the
Arneis, following up neatly on that wine’s fresher mouthfeel. It also provided
more texture with some of the evening’s fleshier, more tactile dishes. These two
very different whites were, in their respective ways, absolutely spot on for this
meal. Freisa is a grape variety that is currently going though hard times, as its
tough tannins, which require years of patience before finally smoothing out,
are not everyone’s cup of tea. But the variety can give wines that are exceptionally
perfumed and remarkably complex, not to mention spectacularly ageworthy. In my
experience, at 15-20 years from the vintage, wines made with Freisa can be not
just delicious, but also very hard to distinguish from Barolo – which is not
surprising at all, given that Nebbiolo and Freisa are relatives, and extremely
close ones at that.&nbsp;<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1568917645074-da+wines_copy.jpg"> The 2016 Giuseppe
Mascarello&nbsp;&amp; Figlio&nbsp;Freisa Langhe Toetto is still very young and austere, and unless
one has acquired a taste for young Freisas, probably tough going right now, but
it showed very pure strawberry aromas and flavors nicely framed by mineral
nuances and citrusy acidity that speak of a long, healthy life ahead. I have no
doubt it will prove a splendid drink about five to eight years down the road.
Unfortunately, the 2014 Cappellano
Barolo Otin Fiorin Pié Franco was too evolved and not what it should have
been, possibly because of a not-quite-perfect cork. It happens. Happily, the 2011 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Albesani
Vigna Santo Stefano had no such issues, and confirmed itself as a wine of early appeal loaded with easy charm.
It’s drinking beautifully right now, a refined and silky quaff redolent of ripe
red cherry and rose petal aromas and flavors, though this specific bottle
seemed a little more evolved compared to other bottles of this wine I have
tried recently. We ended the meal with a Piedmontese classic, the always
exceptionally good NV Cappellano Barolo
Chinato. From the house that invented it, this is a Chinato of real
pedigree: long, suave, complex and rich, featuring lovely, lingering notes of
quinine and dark berries and a very typical resiny nuance (typical of this
estate’s version of Chinato, that is). It provided a wonderful and very Langhe
way to bring our dinner to a close.The food at Osteria Veglio is classically prepared and extremely well-focused.
Of late it also strikes me as being even more exceptionally rendered than
usual. While there’s no reason to suppose things won’t remain as great as they
are now, my advice is to dine at Osteria Veglio while it’s red-hot and firing on
all cylinders.

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