Luigi Ferrando, Erbaluce di Caluso “La Torrazza”

When Italy’s DOC (Denomination of Controlled Origin) system was codified into law in 1967, Erbaluce di Caluso was the first white wine to receive a classification. This, however, doesn’t change the fact that the wine is, and always has been, a rarity: There are fewer than 200 hectares of Erbaluce planted in the entire Caluso DOC zone, and only a smattering of plantings in a few neighboring provinces in Piedmont—and that’s it. Even today, I can think of only a few Erbaluce di Caluso wines with any significant distribution in the US, and yet, somewhat astonishingly, Ferrando’s wines have been imported here for more than 40 years (by the estimable Rosenthal Wine Merchant). Despite this, Erbaluce probably ranks fourth on the Piedmontese white wine name-recognition chart (behind Cortese di Gavi, Arneis, and the now-trendy Timorasso)—but I’d argue it makes the best wines of them all.Caluso is the name of the anchor town of the DOC zone, which sits in a basin-like amphitheater of terraced vin