Few places marry fungus and wine as tightly as Piedmont. The clay-rich woodlands around Alba yield Tuber magnatum, the white truffle, whose autumn harvest crowns the International White Truffle Fair and fetches auction prices in the thousands. The same hills grow Nebbiolo into Barolo and Barbaresco — and a plate of tajarin showered with shaved white truffle, beside a glass of Barolo, is the region's defining marriage of terroir.
White-truffle season runs roughly October to December.