{"product_id":"ferrando-etichetta-bianca-carema-piedmont-italy-2020","title":"Ferrando, \"Etichetta Bianca\", Carema, Piedmont, Italy, 2020","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAsk any ten great Italy-focused sommeliers to make a list of their favorite Nebbiolo producers and I would be astonished if Ferrando did not appear again and again usually surrounded by names whose Barolos and Barbaresco's now cost two, three, five, or ten times as much. There is a reason. Ferrando’s Carema captures Nebbiolo in one of its purest and most haunting forms: a unique cliffside terroir that accentuates vivid aromatics of rose, brilliant red cherry, alpine herbs, iron, spice, and stone, delivered with extraordinary intensity. This is not inexpensive Barolo, nor should it be understood as some obscure northern alternative to the Langhe. Carema is its own thing entirely, and Ferrando is its historic reference point. The 2020 Etichetta Bianca is the wine I would pour for someone who wanted to understand why serious Nebbiolo obsessives become so emotional about this tiny place: ethereal, transparent, mineral, and capable of aging for decades, yet still available for a fraction of what similarly revered Nebbiolo producers command.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCarema itself is one of the most extraordinary viticultural landscapes in Italy. At Piedmont’s extreme northwestern frontier, where the region collides with the Valle d’Aosta, the Dora Baltea river emerges from the Alps through a great south-facing amphitheater of rock. Vineyards climb the mountainsides on tiny terraces, and the surviving planted surface of the appellation is almost absurdly small roughly sixteen hectares, or forty acres. This is true heroic viticulture. Mechanization is essentially impossible in many parcels; vineyards are fragmented into tiny holdings; stone retaining walls must be maintained by hand; and Nebbiolo must somehow be persuaded to ripen in a cool Alpine environment at the very edge of its climatic comfort zone. Ferrando controls roughly 2.5 hectares an enormous presence by Carema standards and has been the appellation’s defining producer for generations.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe architecture of the vineyards is ingenious. Nebbiolo is trained overhead on the traditional pergola system known locally as topie or tupiun, supported by enormous stone pillars called pilun. These are not merely picturesque remnants of ancient farming. The stone pillars and dry-stone terrace walls absorb sunlight during the day and radiate stored warmth after sunset, effectively creating tiny thermal batteries that help Nebbiolo ripen through Carema’s cold Alpine nights. The soils themselves are thin, acidic, rocky, and largely morainic the geological debris left behind by ancient glaciers with abundant stone and very little fertile earth. Everything conspires against abundance and in favor of finesse. The result is Nebbiolo stripped of the muscularity we often associate with Barolo: paler, more fragrant, more nervous, more mineral, and seemingly suspended between the warmth of Piedmont and the severity of the Alps. Ferrando’s Etichetta Bianca undergoes roughly two weeks of maceration before an unusually long 30–36 month élevage, and Carema itself cannot legally be released until four years after harvest. This is serious, traditionally raised Nebbiolo masquerading as an obscure mountain wine.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe 2020 pours a beautifully transparent ruby moving toward garnet at the rim the classic visual delicacy of Nebbiolo giving almost no indication of the aromatic intensity to follow. The nose is soaring: dried rose, violet, wild strawberry, sour cherry, orange peel, alpine herbs, anise, tobacco, iron, and crushed stone, with subtle earthy and savory notes emerging as the wine takes air. On the palate it is wonderfully light on its feet, with tart red fruit carried by bright acidity and Nebbiolo’s unmistakable fine-grained tannic architecture. There is no excess flesh whatsoever; instead, the wine seems to become increasingly mineral as it moves across the palate, finishing with red cherry, dried flowers, spice, mountain herbs, and a persistent ferrous, stony sensation. This is precisely what great Carema does so beautifully: enormous complexity without enormous body. Serve it around 60–62°F in a large Burgundy stem, and give it an hour of air. The broad bowl allows those extraordinary floral and herbal aromatics to expand, while the cool serving temperature preserves the wine’s alpine freshness and almost weightless precision.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFor dinner, there could hardly be anything more appropriate than agnolotti del plin, one of Piedmont’s great gifts to civilization. Make the tiny pinched pasta parcels with a filling of slowly roasted beef, pork, and veal, enriched with greens and Parmigiano, then serve them in the traditional manner with little more than the intensely reduced jus from the roasted meats. This is exactly the sort of food Nebbiolo seems genetically engineered to accompany. The meat and jus soften Carema’s fine tannins and pull forward its savory, earthy side, while the wine’s acidity cuts through the richness of the pasta filling. But unlike a powerful young Barolo, Ferrando never overwhelms the delicacy of the agnolotti: its rose petals, red fruit, herbs, and iron hover above the dish rather than burying it. A plate of agnolotti, a bottle of Ferrando, and a cool evening is about as convincing an argument for the wines and cooking of northern Piedmont as I can imagine.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Elevage","offers":[{"title":"750ml","offer_id":47438929199260,"sku":"CAUB2608-FERR20CAREM-750","price":96.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0694\/6937\/2572\/files\/Ferrando__EtichettaBianca__Carema_Piedmont_Italy_2020WEB.png?v=1787247288","url":"https:\/\/thecaubleist.com\/products\/ferrando-etichetta-bianca-carema-piedmont-italy-2020","provider":"The Caubleist","version":"1.0","type":"link"}