Best wine that I have had so far this year. Gorgeous sparkling color (no cloudiness at all, and no sediment in the bottle…very strange), wonderful classic Nebbiolo floral aromatics, and complicated and long sour cherries and liquorice on the palate. This is the reason I love wine!
I share your enthusiasm. Truly gorgeous, unique wines. If you come across the 2010, don’t hesitate. One of my favourite Etichetta Bianca vintages ever.
I have some of the 2008 and 2011 of this wine, I have assumed they need several more years to become friendly, perhaps this is not the case? I am wondering your thoughts on these vintages. TIA!
Not really. These wines are nearly always like this and don’t have sediment to throw around.
No reason to delay gratification. This is ready for prime time drinking. Will it last for years? Maybe because it is Nebbiolo, but there no reason to wait. There are no hard edges to soften. What a great wine!
Thanks for the info Marcus. I cannot speak re: maturation of other vintages. Sorry
The 2008, 2011 and 2012 are excellent complex elegant wines …
On of best Haut-Piémont wines.
The etichetta nera needs more cellaring.
Thanks for the info, and I guess I also do not need to worry about decanting for sediment. Maybe one of these will be for Thanksgiving…
Re: the need to age, basically what Laurent said. The Etichetta Nera almost always requires significantly more bottle age to reveal more (I’d say probably at least 10-12 years as a baseline). On the other hand, I have consistently found the Etichetta Bianca to be fully enjoyable and ready to drink quite soon, but it ages gracefully as well. I’m sure about mid-term, perhaps longer, but it’s difficult for me to say: the oldest Ferrandos I’ve had were simply labelled as Carema without the bianca/nera distinction, which I think was introduced more recently (in the '90s?). I’ve also had some Ferrando Donnaz bottlings from the '60s that were perfectly preserved and still dazzling, sturdy wines.
I had the 2008 Bianca recently and it was stunning. Just beautifully detailed, elegant with a lovely sappy herbal element on the finish. The bottle went very fast!
That’s another thing about these. Drinkability off the charts.
Truly beautiful wines.
Thanks all for sharing your thoughts. Tvrtko, I’m glad I have some 2010 (haven’t tried it yet) and some 2009 (had one bottle so far, nice).
What’s your take on Ferrando vs Produttori?
Wow, wish I’d read this a few weeks ago. I tried a 2007 Nera after loving the Bianca. It was very cranky about being opened and nowhere near as enjoyable.
Wow, wish I’d read this a few weeks ago. I tried a 2007 Nera after loving the Bianca. It was very cranky about being opened and nowhere near as enjoyable.
Glad I am reading this, I have 2 bottles of 05 Nera and 3 bottles of 07 Nera that I am going to leave buried away for a while longer.
I definitely drank through the handful of 08 Bianca that I had within a year or two of release. Wish I had some more of those right now, great value.
Hi, Gilberto! Incidentally, I just opened one of my last bottles of the '06 Produttori Riserva some weeks ago. A lovely wine, and no reason to hold back for those who may have some.
Basically, my take on the Produttori di Carema is I’m very glad to have that option open to me. Very nice wines at both levels, still great QPR (the prices have risen a little over the last years, but they are still really quite cheap for how good and distinctive they are).
Having said that, I do think Ferrando is on a different level in terms of detail, finesse and overall quality.
(BTW, Orsolani’s Le Tabbie is very good as well, but , sadly, I only ever seem to come across it every once in a blue moon).
Thanks, Tvrtko.
Carema is on the way whenever I drive from/to Italy. I once tried to visit Ferrando during one of these trips, but ended up in the enoteca Ferrando in Ivrea…
Have you ever managed to visit them?
Has anyone opened the 2006 Ferrando Bianca recently?
I have a couple of these left, but it’s been a few years since I last tasted them.
These used to be around $30 a bottle a few years ago. Now closer to double that. Probably still worth it.
Sadly, somehow it never worked out when I was there, for one reason or the other. I’d love to go, though, obviously, and will try again the next time I’m in or around Ivrea. Having said that, I did have some great, really memorable times with friends at Solativo, though. I was there last some five or six years ago, though, and some recent reports suggest the place is not as good as it used to be, which would really be a shame.
BTW, do you know this funny little place called Marenda Sinoira? If not, do yourself a favour the next time you’re passing through. A ten-minute drive up from Settimo Vittone (uscita Quincinetto) towards Cornaley. Middle of nowhere, crazy wine cellar…