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Petricore Enoteca con Cucina, Alba: Alba’s Best Wine Bar?
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Petricore Enoteca con Cucina: Alba's Best Wine Bar & Restaurant?
Petricore Enoteca con Cucina, Via Ospedale, 6, 12051 Alba, Italy. Four courses, 2 bottles of wine, 2 dessert wines and coffee: €78 (US$92, £66)
Written by Liam Collens // See more food reviews here.
Petricore Enoteca is Alba’s best wine bar with a vast selection of Piedmont wine, and a capable kitchen to soak up that Barolo.
The Highs
The Lows
The Highs
Great value wine bar and restaurant in pricey Alba
Exceptional regional wine selection
Generous knowledgeable staff
The illuminous, creamy panna cotta
The Lows
Only open in the evenings at the time of this review and reservations are highly recommended
Petricore Enoteca con Cucina: Alba's Best Wine Bar & Restaurant?
We are at that point during a long trip where we have eaten too well for too long. Mealtimes take on a threat-like foreboding. Oh no, the familiar twitch of hunger approaches. We nervously exchange glances. No one wants to ask: “what do YOU want to do for dinner?”
Tonight, less is more. There is a lot to discuss and decide. Architects, asbestos in the roof, should we turn the dilapidated stables into an Airbnb rental first? Returning readers will know Italy inspires us to buy a house. Inspiration unleashes a phalanx of decision-making and project management. There is already a lot to chew over, so food only adds to the cud.


Petricore Enoteca is located in the beautiful, historic town of Alba in Piedmont. A town filled with bars and restaurants.
Tonight, less is more. There is a lot to discuss and decide. Architects, asbestos in the roof, should we turn the dilapidated stables into an Airbnb rental first? Returning readers will know Italy inspires us to buy a house. Inspiration unleashes a phalanx of decision-making and project management. There is already a lot to chew over, so food only adds to the cud.
Petricore Enoteca is located in the beautiful, historic town of Alba in Piedmont. A town filled with bars and restaurants.
Petricore Enoteca’s wine bar proved to be the right decision
Petricore Enoteca, as the name suggests, is a wine bar. Wine feels reassuring right now, especially Piedmontese wine. The perfect solution to lubricate fickle decision making. Petricore Enoteca offers relief. Five minutes from our Alba Airbnb and, better, it comes recommended by David Constable. David’s never led me wrong; he did not fail tonight.
It is not our first foray to Petricore Enoteca, but it is the first successful one. Last night, every chair in Petricore’s cobbled alfresco space was full long before sunset. Instead, Mrs EatGoSee and I found ourselves at a restaurant that we food bloggers affectionately refer to as a “shitshow”. I mean that with no love.

Petricore Enoteca specialises in Piedmontese wine but also offers other European wine and champagnes.
Petricore Enoteca specialises in Piedmontese wine but also offers other European wine and champagnes.
A funky orange wine structured similar to Piedmont’s Timorasso, a grape that bears a closer resemblance to French cider passed through a sumo-wrestler’s jock strap — but in a good way.
Petricore Enoteca's wine selection and service stands out
Tonight we sit in the simple surroundings of potted plants under oversized umbrellas flicking through a thorough Piedmontese wine list. We start with a 2016 San Fereolo from neighbouring Langhe. A funky orange wine structured similar to Piedmont’s Timorasso, a grape that bears a closer resemblance to French cider passed through a sumo wrestler’s jockstrap — but in a good way.
Our adventures through Northern Italian whites unearths this hitherto unfamiliar Timorasso grape. The traditional varietal in Piedmont nearly died out save for a few intrepid – if not nostalgic – farmers who reinvested in Timorasso in the 1980s. With a distinct fermented astringence, it kicks like a mule at 14% (and above).
Our charismatic server takes a liking to us offering more adventurous wines paired with a backstory. An incredible 2020 Verduno Pelaverga shines with raspberry brightness contrasted with leather, pepper and anise. A wine that plays well with the pan-roasted guinea fowl on mashed potato, wilted spinach and shattering potato crisps. The guinea fowl morsels are moist; its skin is brittle and crisp. The mashed potato is light and flakes like snow.


Petricore Enoteca’s guinea fowl with flaky mashed potato, potato crisps and wilted spinach.
Our adventures through Northern Italian whites unearths this hitherto unfamiliar Timorasso grape. The traditional varietal in Piedmont nearly died out save for a few intrepid – if not nostalgic – farmers who reinvested in Timorasso in the 1980s. With a distinct fermented astringence, it kicks like a mule at 14% (and above).
Our charismatic server takes a liking to us offering more adventurous wines paired with a backstory. An incredible 2020 Verduno Pelaverga shines with raspberry brightness contrasted with leather, pepper and anise. A wine that plays well with the pan-roasted guinea fowl on mashed potato, wilted spinach and shattering potato crisps. The guinea fowl morsels are moist; its skin is brittle and crisp. The mashed potato is light and flakes like snow.
Petricore Enoteca’s guinea fowl with flaky mashed potato, potato crisps and wilted spinach.
Petricore Enoteca’s cucina food crept in and impressed
Yes, I surcombe to the dinner menu after Petricore Enoteca tickles my interest with a complimentary cicchetti selection: sugary cantaloupe melon, earthy pesto on toast and a hand-chopped tartare alongside the orange San Fereolo. A few slivers of lardaceous pork fat and milky ricotta nubs seal a more than passing interest in the food menu. Mrs EatGoSee pretends not to be hungry, but mines away at my mashed potato with disingenuous disinterest.
There is a great temptation to only drink wine at Petricore Enoteca. You would have a great time. Our wine aficionado-quickly-becoming-friend enthusiastically serves us a 2010 Barolo Chinato. Only 1000 bottles a year are made and he gets a mere twelve. The Petricore Enoteca team are clearly well-connected to nearby Piedmont wine producers. They forward that network to people who come to eat and drink in a frankly unsupposing wine bar in the middle of a cobbled street.


Petricore Enoteca’s wine selection is at its best when it leverages relationships with small producers to offer guests rare bottles.
Still, there is enough quality coming out of the kitchen to justify dinner too. Petricore Enoteca manages to be that place that is both a bar and yet a sensible restaurant.
Petricore Enoteca’s food menu knows the wine is the star. Simple dishes like slivers of glistening Calabrian salted anchovy fillets perched on rich buttery crusty bread is a lesson that less is more. An effortless interplay of umami-rich, salted anchovy swaddled in delicious lifespan reducing butterfat. Die I might. Happy I would be. (Yoda I sound.)


Petricore Enoteca’s chilled starter of calabrian anchovy with salted butter on toast; the restaurant’s inside decor is minimal and artsy.
A gifted panna cotta from the kitchen wobbles, invitingly, with all the goodness that comes with luxuriantly sweet local cream paired with dehydrated apricots. Panna cotta so rich and good, the cows who lend their milk must also eat panna cotta daily.
The Classic Piedmont bonet arrives as a simple chocolate brownie-like square crusted with Amaretti biscuits balanced with caramel.


Petricore Enoteca’s desserts impressed but a simple panna cotta heavy with cream and sliced, dried apricot.
To say that this is one of the best nights during two weeks of eating out ferociously in Italy is both a touch hyperbolic and, yet, entirely accurate. Was both the bonet and decor at Accademia Ristorante better? Absolutely. Was the wine list at Piazza Duomo more daring? Entirely. Are the courses at La Fermata more daring? Without a doubt. But is anywhere more fun? Can I roll up in jeans, an untucked shirt and have a spirited exchange with a somm about natural wine and their Brazilian coffee selection? Only Petricore managed this.
Passersby looking to chance it. Alba visitors who want somewhere cheaper in the city. Wine enthusiasts, Piedmont wine fans and people looking to drink the region without having to drive around. Hunters for superb panna cotta.
There is a great temptation to only drink wine at Petricore Enoteca. You would have a great time. Our wine aficionado-quickly-becoming-friend enthusiastically serves us a 2010 Barolo Chinato. Only 1000 bottles a year are made and he gets a mere twelve. The Petricore Enoteca team are clearly well-connected to nearby Piedmont wine producers. They forward that network to people who come to eat and drink in a frankly unsupposing wine bar in the middle of a cobbled street.
Petricore Enoteca’s wine selection is at its best when it leverages relationships with small producers to offer guests rare bottles.
Still, there is enough quality coming out of the kitchen to justify dinner too. Petricore Enoteca manages to be that place that is both a bar and yet a sensible restaurant.
Petricore Enoteca’s food menu knows the wine is the star. Simple dishes like slivers of glistening Calabrian salted anchovy fillets perched on rich buttery crusty bread is a lesson that less is more. An effortless interplay of umami-rich, salted anchovy swaddled in delicious lifespan reducing butterfat. Die I might. Happy I would be. (Yoda I sound.)
Petricore Enoteca’s chilled starter of calabrian anchovy with salted butter on toast; the restaurant’s inside decor is minimal and artsy.
A gifted panna cotta from the kitchen wobbles, invitingly, with all the goodness that comes with luxuriantly sweet local cream paired with dehydrated apricots. Panna cotta so rich and good, the cows who lend their milk must also eat panna cotta daily.
The Classic Piedmont bonet arrives as a simple chocolate brownie-like square crusted with Amaretti biscuits balanced with caramel.
Petricore Enoteca’s desserts impressed but a simple panna cotta heavy with cream and sliced, dried apricot.
Would I Return to Petricore Enoteca?
To say that this is one of the best nights during two weeks of eating out ferociously in Italy is both a touch hyperbolic and, yet, entirely accurate. Was both the bonet and decor at Accademia Ristorante better? Absolutely. Was the wine list at Piazza Duomo more daring? Entirely. Are the courses at La Fermata more daring? Without a doubt. But is anywhere more fun? Can I roll up in jeans, an untucked shirt and have a spirited exchange with a somm about natural wine and their Brazilian coffee selection? Only Petricore managed this.
Petricore Enoteca, who should come?
Passersby looking to chance it. Alba visitors who want somewhere cheaper in the city. Wine enthusiasts, Piedmont wine fans and people looking to drink the region without having to drive around. Hunters for superb panna cotta.
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