Ferrando Carema Etichetta Bianca 2016
The Ferrando family has produced and traded wine for five generations.
Ferrando Vini was founded in 1890 by Giuseppe Ferrando, who moved to Ivrea from Acqui to introduce the wines of Piedmont into the neighbouring region of Valle d’Aosta. Giuseppe’s son Luigi then expanded and developed the winemaking business.
In 1957, Giuseppe Ferrando junior, the founder’s grandson, began production of one of the rarest wines obtained from the Nebbiolo variety: Carema, named after a small town in northern Piedmont, on the border with Valle d’Aosta. Here, in 1964, the Ferrando family built cellars for the production and ageing of this unique “mountain Barolo” (D.O.C. since 1967).
In the early Eighties, Giuseppe’s son Luigi took over the company, which is currently owned by his son Roberto. The company’s creativity and inventiveness have been faithfully passed on through the generations, along with a steady commitment to quality.
Besides Carema, Ferrando’s flagship wine, production has expanded over the years to include the whole range of Canavese wines: Erbaluce di Caluso, Caluso Passito, Spumante metodo classico, Canavese rosso, Canavese bianco, Solativo Vendemmia Tardiva (late harvest). Thanks particularly to their modern, rational production of Solativo, a unique wine made from Erbaluce grapes harvested in December, the Ferrando family has helped raise Erbaluce to rank among the best Italian white wines.
2016 Carema “Etichetta Bianca”
Ferrando’s white-label Carema is arguably the most gorgeously elegant expression of Nebbiolo in existence, and this 2016 is a textbook version. Full of driving, kinetic energy, it presents a lifted and linear palate at this youthful stage which should broaden with bottle age, as well as an intoxicating blast of high-toned spices and mountain herbs. Never an overwhelmingly powerful wine, “Etichetta Bianca” derives its sense of structure more from its acid-fruit tension than its tannins, and that is particularly the case with this 2016. Fermented in stainless steel without temperature control and using only indigenous yeasts, it spent three full years in a blend of large Stockinger botti and smaller well-used French barriques.
