Ferrando Canavese Rosso 2021
Luigi Ferrando has long been the leading producer of wines from the Canavese region where his family’s winemaking tradition goes back to 1900. His attachment and commitment to his local region run deep, and have led him to collaborate with other wine growers and academics. Together, they are responsible for discovering and preserving local grape varieties and traditions that might otherwise have been lost. Luigi’s sons, Roberto and Andrea, now work with him on the estate (Roberto) and in the family’s vinoteca (Andrea) located in the heart of the city of Ivrea, the commercial hub of the Canavese region. Thus, the continuation of the Ferrando tradition has been enabled.
Technically speaking, the Canavese is part of Piedmont. Its location at the frontier of the Valle d’Aosta, the very edge of Piedmont, an area renowned for its steeply terraced vineyards, imparts a distinctive quality to the wines. The Ferrandos painstakingly cultivate their Nebbiolo vineyards on the mountainside terroir of Carema, in an amphitheater that sits in the very shadows of Monte Bianco. The resulting wine is very different than its more famous cousins from Barolo or Barbaresco and is sought after by connoisseurs for its finesse, complexity, and longevity. Their other vineyard holdings are lower in altitude, on the plains and hills of the Canavese region, in and around the village of Caluso, approximately 45 minutes north of Torino. Here, they work with interesting local grape varieties and are particularly known for their Erbaluce di Caluso. The Erbaluce grape is an ancient white variety that originates, and can only be found, in the alpine foothills of this northwestern corner of Piedmont. It has a bright acidity, an elegant underlying minerality, and a complex structure that makes it the ultimate flexible wine: producing everything from sparkling wine, through bone-dry, off-dry, and late harvest wines.
This wine is full of wild berries (notably strawberry and raspberry), spice and a touch of warm earthiness. The tannins are delicate and fine which enables this wine to be consumed with pleasure in its youth.
Canavese Rosso La Torrazza: Produced predominantly from Nebbiolo with roughly 30% Barbera and a touch of a local variety known as “Neretta” (the “little black”), this lovely red wine, vinified in stainless steel and bottled 12 to 15 months after harvest, is full of wild berries (notably strawberry and raspberry), spice and a touch of warm earthiness. The tannins are delicate and fine which enables this wine to be consumed with pleasure in its youth. As always with Nebbiolo-based wines, harvest occurs usually in the early to mid parts of October. Approximately 8,000 bottles of this wine are produced annually.
