Le Piane "Bianko" 2023

This bottle takes us to Alto Piemonte, a wine-growing area tucked at the base of the Italian Alps roughly 90 miles northeast of Alba. Today, one of the best-known producers in the region — Le Piane — is owned by Swiss-born winemaker Christoph Kunzli. He became enamored with the area’s wines during several business trips to Italy and took over one of the few remaining estates in Alto Piemonte in the late 1990s. Luckily for us, he stayed true to many local traditions, including cultivating the high-acid white grape Erbaluce using a historic trellising system known as Maggiorina. The name “erbaluce” comes in part from erba, the Italian word for herb — a nod to the grape’s characteristic aromas. Le Piane’s “Bianko” is a textbook example, with notes of mint and tarragon along with lemon zest, pears and gardenia blossoms. The wine’s high acidity is tempered by an opulent texture thanks to extended lees aging, which adds some charming notes of biscuits and rising sourdough bread. It would mak