Luigi Ferrando, Erbaluce di Caluso “La Torrazza”

We’re at a turning point for Italian white wines. Slowly but surely, they’re being recognized as worthy peers of their Old World European counterparts—although there are so many hyper-local Italian grape varieties to keep track of, it’s hard to know where to start. Firmly entrenched in my Italian White Top 10 is the Erbaluce grape of Piedmont, and, as Italian wine aficionados know, the first (and to some, last) word in Erbaluce is Ferrando. Founded in 1890 in the town of Ivrea, north of Turin, the Luigi Ferrando winery isn’t merely a Piedmontese benchmark but an all-Italy hall-of-famer, and their wines not only showcase the mineral-rich glacial soils of their home region but the amazing versatility of the Erbaluce variety: In addition to crisp, Chablis-inspired dry whites like today’s “Torrazza,” there are also sparklers to rival Champagne and sweet styles to rival Sauternes and Côteaux du Layon. Thanks mostly to Ferrando, the grape’s renown extends well beyond the few provinces in Nor