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A tough assignment

Less than an hour's drive south of all the Olympic action in Torino lies the beautiful wine country of Italy's Piedmont region. WNBC's Otis Livingston and I headed there earlier this week for a tour of the area's countless vineyards and, yes, some wine tasting.

First stop was a tiny town whose name is very familiar to wine connoisseurs: Barolo. Between well-paced sips of a '99 overlooking Northern Italy's scenic countryside, vineyard owner Daniela Veglio explained the key to enjoying this abundant, rich tasting -- and typically more expensive -- red wine. And it can be summed up in one word: patience. Every sip tastes slightly different, Veglio said. "Every time you put some Barolo in your glass and give it some air you feel something new. So from the first glass to the last one you always have something new to taste in your glass, and that's the great thing about Barolo."

A few miles away we found Giulio Moranda, whose family has been making wine since the 17th century under the family name: La Morandina. His specialty is Moscato, a sparkling white dessert wine. He produces 100,000 bottles of it a year, shipped worldwide.

I preferred the Barolo; Otis thought the Moscato was better than dessert itself. Just two stops in fabulous wine country; and we did not even have time to sample other staples of the region, like those from the white Gavi grape, or from either the red Barbera or Dolcetto grapes.

Editor's note: Rich Latour is a supervising producer for Nightly News. He is on loan to NBC Olympics in Torino producing for "Olympic Zone," a 30-minute lead-in show that airs in the half-hour prior to NBC's primetime coverage each night on most NBC stations.

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