Summer Magic in the Cottian Alps

Summer Magic in the Cottian Alps

Winter is here (well, sort of in the Colorado Rockies) and it’s never too early to start planning your summer escape in the Alps. I highly recommend a retreat from the world — digital and otherwise — with a trip to Des Martin’s Rifugio Valliera in Castelmagno.

Located high in the Valle Grana of the Cottain Alps, this under discovered Piemontese treasure offers an opportunity for visitors to enjoy all the splendor of the mountains, delicious traditional Occitane cuisine, including dishes made with the agri’s own Castelmagno d’Alpeggio DOP cheese, and Piemontese wine.

Visionary Piemontesi

In 2007, Barolo wine producer Chiara Boschis, her brother Cesare, and her fellow group members of the Des Martin consortium turned their attention to Castelmagno to renovate buildings and revive the area’s cheese-making traditions. At the timberline in the commune are abandoned hamlets where families once lived off the land year-round. The group purchased half of Valliera, a hamlet nearly 5,000 feet above sea level at timberline. They named their consortium “Des Martin,” after the hamlet’s last inhabitants. Yet another group that shared the vision purchased the remaining Valliera property, and the hamlet’s renaissance was under way.

That same year, Des Martin hired an experienced casara (cheese maker) who began experimenting with various forms at a nearby dairy during the construction of Des Martin’s casei-ficio (creamery). By 2015, the Des Martin cowherd exceeded 40 head. Chiara often quips that while other women buy great cars and take exotic vacations, she buys cows.

Milk cows of the Des Martin consortium dining on the sweet mountain grasses and flowers to produce a distinctive milk for use in the consortium’s prized Castelmagno d’Alpeggio DOP cheese.

Chiara and the other members of the consortium dream of more groups coming to the mountains to transform the remaining hamlets. Already her fellow Barolo producer Elio Altare has rejuvenated mountain life in the hamlet of Campo Fei above Rifugio Valliera. Life begins anew above timberline.

In June 2015, Agriturismo Des Martin opened. The nine (9) apartments provide warm, homey lodgings for visitors seeking the peace and tranquility that communing with nature and the past provide. Chiara envisions the rebirth of a vibrant mountain culture through her passionate nurturing of agricultural restoration.

Book soon for this unique mountain experience!

Piemonte is calling!

For more information on visiting Agriturismo Des Martin or to book an exclusive, customized Labor of Love tour of Piemonte, contact Suzanne Hoffman at suzanne@winefamilies.com.

View from Rifugio Valliera

Rifugio Valliera, nestled at timberline in the Commune of Castelmagno.
Ripe Castelmagno d’alpeggio DOP from Des Martin in Rifugio Valliera ready for sale.

Chiara Boschis enjoying lunch al fresco at Rifugio Valliera in Castelmagno.