Ferrando
Appellations
History
Ferrando Vini was founded in 1890 by Giuseppe Ferrando, who moved to Ivrea from Acqui to bring the wines of Piedmont into the neighboring region of Valle d'Aosta. His son Luigi expanded the business, and the Ferrando family has now produced and traded wine across five generations from the same base in Ivrea, the commercial hub of the Canavese.
In 1957 Giuseppe Ferrando junior, the founder's grandson, began production of Carema, one of the rarest wines made from the Nebbiolo grape, named for the small town on the border with Valle d'Aosta. In 1964 the family built cellars in Carema for the wine's production and aging, and Carema became a DOC in 1967. The vines there are trained on the traditional pergola system known locally as topie, held up by stone pillars called pilun, on the steep, glacial-moraine terraces that Ferrando and other producers have long described as a mountain Barolo; only about 16 hectares are under vine in the whole appellation, of which Ferrando farms 2.5 hectares. The estate's Carema Etichetta Nera (Black Label) is made only in the best vintages, aged at least three years with a minimum of two in barrique, and has long been scarce; Rosenthal Wine Merchant states that Ferrando's wines were the first the importer brought into the United States, in January 1980.
In the early 1980s Luigi Ferrando, Giuseppe junior's son, took over the company; it is now owned by his son Roberto, the fifth generation, while another son, Andrea, runs the family's wine shop (vinoteca) in Ivrea. Alongside Carema, the estate produces the range of Canavese wines built around the native white Erbaluce grape, including still and sparkling Erbaluce di Caluso and the dried-grape dessert wine Caluso Passito, as well as a Canavese Rosso blend of Nebbiolo and Barbera, work that has helped keep both the Carema and Erbaluce traditions of this Piedmont corner near Valle d'Aosta alive.