White Truffle Season: What to Pour with Alba's Tartufo Bianco
The Alba truffle fair opens on 10 October. Here is what to drink with tajarin, carne cruda, beef and eggs under the shavings.
Il Vino Bello ·
In less than two weeks the white truffle takes over Alba. The 96th International Alba White Truffle Fair opens on 10 October and runs every weekend until 6 December, and for eight weeks the question at every table in the Langhe is the same: what goes in the glass when the shavings start falling?
The short answer is Nebbiolo, but not only Nebbiolo, and not any Nebbiolo. White truffle is all aroma. It is served raw, shaved over simple food, and the wrong wine can bury it in seconds. Here is how to choose, dish by dish.
The one rule: let the truffle speak
Tuber magnatum is never cooked. It goes on at the last moment over butter, egg, pasta or raw meat, so the dish itself is quiet and the perfume is everything. That rules out wines that shout. The Barolo house Boroli puts it plainly: avoid wines that are too fragrant, heavy with vanilla, or very tannic, because they cover the truffle's aroma. Oaky, jammy, high-alcohol wines are the usual culprits.
What works instead is wine with freshness, savoury depth and tannins that are either fine or softened by time. Think of the wine as the frame, not the picture.
Tajarin and risotto: a white with some age
The two great truffle carriers, tajarin with butter and risotto, are rich and gentle. Decanter's pairing guide suggests complex white wines with a little bottle age for both, and Piemonte has an obvious candidate. Timorasso from the Colli Tortonesi keeps its acidity and, with a few years, picks up the mineral, almost petrol notes that sit well next to truffle. Italy's Finest Wines names aged Piedmontese whites like Timorasso as the classic match for truffle tajarin.
If you want to explore, look at the Derthona from Cantina di Tortona or the Filari di Timorasso from Boveri Luigi, and read our piece on how Timorasso came back from near extinction.
Prefer red with your pasta? Boroli suggests a young Barolo or a fine Nebbiolo with tagliolini and white truffle. A lighter, earlier-drinking Nebbiolo such as Ada Nada's Langhe Nebbiolo Serena or Bruno Giacosa's Nebbiolo d'Alba Valmaggiore gives you the rose and red-fruit perfume without a wall of tannin.
Carne cruda: a lighter Nebbiolo
Hand-chopped raw veal, the Piedmontese carne cruda, is one of the best things to put truffle on. Decanter points to Carema, the small Nebbiolo appellation on Piemonte's border with the Aosta Valley, whose lifted aromatics and fine tannins suit the dish. The logic carries over to any Nebbiolo built on perfume rather than power: bright acidity to cut the meat, gentle grip, nothing that competes with the shavings.
Beef and the big wines: bring out the old bottles
Barolo and Barbaresco belong with the heartier truffle plates. Decanter's advice is to save them for something like a fillet of beef with white truffle, which can stand up to their tannins, and to reach for an older vintage if you can. Age is the key: as Nebbiolo matures its tannins soften and its aromas move towards dried rose, earth and forest floor, which is exactly where truffle lives.
For a classic Barbaresco, look at Ca' del Baio's Asili or Bruno Giacosa's Rabajà. For Barolo in its most traditional form, Bartolo Mascarello's Barolo is co-fermented from five vineyards, with long maceration and years in large old casks. If the bottle is young, open it early and give it air.
Eggs and aperitivo: bubbles from the hills
Eggs, fried or in a soft fonduta, under a snowfall of truffle are a Piemonte classic. The dish is rich and simple, and a dry traditional-method sparkling wine with fine bubbles cleans the palate between bites. Piemonte makes its own: Alta Langa DOCG, from Pinot Nero and Chardonnay grown high in the hills. Try Monsignore's Alta Langa, grown at 600 metres in Vicoforte, or the pas dosé Sphegodes from Forteto della Luja.
The fair itself is making the same point this year. On Sunday 25 October, the new Alta Langa Aperitivo Magnum Première at Alba's Teatro Sociale serves Alta Langa only in magnums, presented by AIS sommeliers, alongside finger food, a hot course with white truffle and a dessert by Michelin-starred chef Paolo Griffa. Tickets are listed at 95 euros.
If you are going to Alba
The heart of the fair is the Alba White Truffle World Market, where truffles are sold directly by trifulau and traders under the eye of a Quality Commission, with judges from the National Truffle Study Centre on hand to help you choose. Buy a small truffle, ask for advice on keeping it, and plan the meal around it that evening. The programme also runs cooking shows, taste workshops, a Barbaresco terroir series and a Barolo meets Rioja masterclass, so check the calendar before you book.
Whatever you pour, keep it simple: a good white with some age for pasta, a fresh Nebbiolo for raw meat, an older Barolo or Barbaresco for beef, and Alta Langa for eggs and aperitivo.
Sources
- International Alba White Truffle Fair, 2026 edition: https://www.fieradeltartufo.org/en/
- Alba White Truffle World Market: https://www.fieradeltartufo.org/en/alba-white-truffle-world-market/
- Alta Langa Aperitivo Magnum Première: https://www.fieradeltartufo.org/en/alba-truffle-fair-events/alta-langa-aperitivo-magnum-premiere/
- Decanter, Italian wine and truffle pairing: https://www.decanter.com/learn/italian-wine-and-truffle-pairing-six-to-try-493081/
- Boroli, Wine and truffle pairing: https://www.boroli.it/en/wine-and-truffle-pairing/
- Italy's Finest Wines, wine and truffle pairings: https://www.italysfinestwines.it/en/come-abbinare-vino-tartufo/