93 points Decanter

The nose shows off the full array of Nebbiolo's floral aromas, from rose petal to violets and camomile, with ripe red fruit in the background. Super-fine tannins and perfect balance give the palate a lovely airy quality and a supple, juicy finish. Exemplary. Ferrando has produced wine in Carema without interruption since the end of the 1950s, and remains a benchmark for the DOC today. It owns 2.5ha of old vines from which is produced the highly sought after ‘black label’ Riserva, and this ‘white label’ Carema, which ages for 36 months in a mix of tonneaux and 20hl barrels. Drinking window 2024-2034 (Aug 2024)”

*No major US publication has reviewed the Bianca or Nera 2020 wines yet.

Power...finesse....the last of these is where the Bianca really excels with its gorgeous and superfluously aromatic nose.  Ferrando’s Carema wines might just be the archetype of Nebbiolo purity.  With an energetic palate and nose, the aromatics soar out of the glass effortlessly while the palate hums along with tension, power, finesse and most importantly, length.

The appellation of Carema is extremely small: only 16 hectares (approximately 40 acres) are planted to the vine. The Ferrando family controls 2.5 hectares of the appellation.

If there is any wine that defines the Ferrando “oeuvre” it is this one: the white label Carema. No single wine in the Rosenthal portfolio is more illustrative of their work than this brilliant rendition of Nebbiolo.  Ferrando was importer Neal Rosenthal’s first wines he imported back in 1980 and to this day his most favored child in a portfolio family of epic wines.

Terroir
Produced exclusively from the Nebbiolo grape planted in a series of vineyards that sit beneath Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) in a broad amphitheater with full southern exposure overlooking the river, Dora Baltea, that runs from the snow-capped mountains south through the Valle d’Aosta.

The vines are trained in a special way on pergola (known as “tupin” in local dialect) to obtain maximum exposure to the sun in this high altitude district and are planted on terraces of eroded hard slate rock that provide the perfect foil for alpine Nebbiolo at its finest.

Winemaking
The Nebbiolo grapes are typically harvested in late October; then, they undergo a cuvaison of approximately two weeks in stainless steel before being racked into a mixture of large and small barrels for an extensive aging period of 30 to 36 months before being bottled (without filtration). By law, the Carema cannot be released before 4 years of aging.

The Carema Bianca from Ferrando reveals the most elegant and delicate and complex characteristics of the Nebbiolo grape with a surprising capacity to age. It has been known to age perfectly for 30+ years, displaying vibrant, seductive qualities that are simply astonishing.