A really cool white wine experience

I recently became acquainted w/ Ferrando's red Carema bottlings (the '03s left an immediate impact on my palate), but this was my first walk on the white side of Ferrando's stable. Granted, there are hundreds to thousands of native varieties to Italy I've never even heard of (much less tried), but one round of Erbaluce definitely made me interested in an encore presentation. The white struck me as having the fatness of Roussanne based white Chateauneuf du Pape, yet w/ more zip, ending w/ a bit of a salty, almost Muscadet like finish.

Wines like this make me appreciate importers like Neal Rosenthal all the more, as his hikes through the distant hills of Italy put fascinating wines like these in our backyard. Even though I'm hardly batting 1000 w/ his portfolio, the least I can do is pop the cork once...if only to see what his trek was all about.

Ferrando, La Torrazza Erbaluce Di Caluso, White '07The exceptionally saturated, golden color kicks off some substantial legs upon swirling. While undelineated and essentially closed aromatically, the forceful, viscous texture kicks in the second this juice touches the palate. The texture is oily, yet lively, as flavors of flowers, kiwi, green apple peel, quince paste and honeysuckle power their way from cheek to cheek, leaving an almost fuzzy feel on the back of the tongue. Still in its infancy, this rich yet balanced white will be a fun one to watch as it evolves in the bottle, 91+ points.