Well before I had a clue what good Barolo was I worked for a really enlightened wine director who was an ardent fan of Ferrando. Needless to say we tasted the white and black label wines frequently at lineup, and I would buy them from local stores when I found them. It wasn’t unusual to find bottle age as well. Fast forward 15 years and the prices are now generally above what I want to pay for something to drink the night of. Fair enough, they’re excellent wines and arguably still an OK value, I just don’t make a habit of paying $60-80 for a spur of the moment, drink tonight, current vintage wine.
Was at Acker earlier picking up some wine for a tasting tomorrow and saw the 2010 Etichetta Bianco for $80. Pangs of nostalgia forced my hand.
It was a good buy!
Took these notes after 60 minutes in a decanter.
Appearance: looks like ~15 year old Nebbiolo. Very little concentration, lots of orange (but not brown at all), pale but vibrant.
Nose: earth notes dominate up front. Sweet leather, porcini dust, dried leaves, blond tobacco. Autumnal in a very nice way, lots of secondary Nebbiolo action with zero balsamic or bouillon. Pretty text book sottobosco. The fruit spectrum is red with both ripeness and some dried qualities, think wild strawberries and the like. Alcohol is present but in check. Basically it smells awesome.
Palate: medium to medium minus body, medium acid, medium to medium minus tannins, but what tannins there are linger nicely. The immediate impression is one of integration and smoothness, not something I generally identify with 11 year old Nebbiolo but I guess this IS Carema and not Monforte so…different rules. Hell, it’s downright silky. Palate confirms the nose as far as the earthiness and fruit profiles, but they’re more united and the fruit is perhaps a bit riper and more generous in the mouth than on the nose. By no means is this a big wine, but it’s really really long, with ripe strawberry/fig/black raspberry AND whispers of texture lingering in the finish.
Final impression: wow. What a nice surprise. This wine is absolutely kicking. I would never think to just sit and drink Nebbiolo without food but that’s what I find myself doing right now. Were I to serve it with food I think it would be fine with classic Piemontese fare like agnolotti dal plin or tajarin with the ragu or burro e salvia treatment, truffles welcome of course. Something porcini oriented would be great too. Roast chicken as well. I’d stay away from anything too robust, if you’re depending on tannins to keep your palate fresh this won’t get you across the finish line.
Beautiful wines, and they will age effortlessly. Considering how tiny carema is, how little is made and how high the quality, I’m not surprised it has gotten much more pricey.
I believe the only other producer I’ve had from the region is the local Produttori. I’ve never even seen a bottling from anyone else. Have y’all ever had Carema from anyone else? Or is it like Boca where there’s like just a tiny cadre of producers and that’s that?
I’ve heard that it is only Ferrando and Produttori di Carema. Anyone know how the two compare considering that they are at opposite ends of the price range?
Wow! AMAZING article. Who knew that Donnas was once part of Carema?! I also didn’t know Picotendro was the dominant Nebbiolo clone in Carema, however upon rumination it does make sense.
.33ha is the average sized holding of each grower. Now that is just crazy.
With such small overall production I’m actually surprised the Ferrando wines aren’t more expensive. All it’s going to take is Galloni dropping a 98-100 on the Black Label and they’ll be off to the races.
I’ve visited both the producers and tasted through some 30-ish different Carema wines. In 2015 when I visited Piemotne and Aosta, Produttori was cheaper than Ferrando, but the quality seemed to be also slightly below Ferrando as well, so I guess the pricing reflects the quality. Locally the Produttori prices were around 13€ for normale and 20€ for Riserva, while Ferrando was around 22€ for Bianca. No Nera available was at all - the previously available vintage (they don’t make it every year) was sold out some while ago and the next vintage was still aging in barrels.
There used to be a handful of producers in Carema, but for the longest time it was just mainly Produttori dominating the landscape with Ferrando making tiny amounts of wine (they own / buy from only a few hectares of grapes while the co-op owns about 15 ha). However, in the past years, at least two other producers have jumped in: Chiussuma and Murajé. I haven’t had Chiussuma yet, but Murajé Kraema 2015 was outstanding - a very classic Carema wine by all accounts. It was labeled as Vino Rosso, though, since the appellation laws of Carema dictate that the wine must be vinified entirely within the region, which was - to my understanding - the co-op’s attempt at keeping any competition off. And it has been a largely successful move, since Ferrando was the only producer who moved their Carema production into the town from Ivrea, where the main winery is located. For example, this inaugural vintage of Murajé was vinified at Le Piane in Boca, which why it wasn’t allowed to be labeled as Carema. However, to my understanding, they now producer wine in Carema, so the subsequent vintages have been or are supposed to be labeled as DOC Carema.
Pretty much the gist of it, but maybe the narrative should also include Orsolani’s Carema “Le Tabbie”, which, while extremely difficult to find, has been around for quite a while.
N: Expansive
P: Light and penetrating with lovely mineral notes. Lift, length and transparency; subtle and delicate, beautifully balanced, it floats on the tongue.
Rather food sensitive. Eg with turkey burgers and ketchup, it was a bit overpowered, but the same burger and Chutney it just loved.
Kept well on the counter with a Repour.
I love this wine. But it’s sortof like Gonon for me. Up to 50 bucks or so I would buy a case every couple of years. Where I live though it’s over $70 and I’ll get a bottle now and then to check out. Like the Gonon, it has a very appealing and somewhat similar balance between the acid, fruit, and structure, with a broad window of enjoyment. Lift, length, transparency, and delicacy like Peter says. But for whatever reason I don’t feel compelled to cellar cases of it…ends up being an enjoy-on-release occasional wine for me. The black label version, from the 3 or 4 times I’ve had it, seems like an entirely different beast. My understanding is that it’s a separate parcel not a selection. Rather gnarly and even tough, to me at least, not enjoyable at all within a few years of release.
And I was under completely opposing impression. As they have only a hectare or two and they don’t even make the Etichetta Nera every year, I wonder how they could even make a separate parcel wine.
I did some digging and found this:
Carema Etichetta Nera: This exceptional and rare wine is produced only in the finest vintages. It comes from a special selection of grapes harvested from several particularly well-placed parcels within the appellation (frequently from the Silanc and Siei vineyard sites). Aged for at least three years prior to bottling, the “elevage” is done primarily in small barrels, only a small percentage of which are new. One hundred of the three hundred cases produced are dedicated to the US market, augmented by a small amount of magnums.
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to be the first (can it be true? 
) to report on the new kid on the block: