Ferrando, Canavese Rosso “La Torrazza”

When I think about the all-time greats of Italian wine, it’s often one of their “lesser” wines (i.e. the ones I can afford to drink regularly) that come to mind first. In Barolo, for example, where top wines climb quickly to three digits, all sorts of treasures are found a little further down the totem pole: Vietti’s Barbera, Bartolo Mascarello’s Dolcetto, Burlotto’s Pelaverga…the list is long and distinguished, and it includes a trove of blends based on Nebbiolo, Piedmont’s headliner and the variety that fetches the highest prices. In Barolo, these transcendent values are labeled “Langhe Rosso,” but in Luigi Ferrando’s little corner of Piedmont, it’s “Canavese Rosso”—the designation given to today’s mind-bendingly good Nebbiolo-Barbera blend, “La Torrazza.”Ferrando is the acknowledged maestro of the tiny Carema appellation, situated right where Piedmont becomes the Valle d’Aosta, and while his two Carema bottlings remain relatively affordable given their impeccable pedigree, “La Torra