The Canavese is known principally for white Erbaluce grape and tow wines made from it, Erbaluce di Caluso and Caluso Passito. Caluso is only one of the 38 communes of the Canavese but the one to have given its name to the wines. Erbaluce di Caluso combines high acidity with a rich, floral centre which, when made with care, results in a refreshing, stimulating wine, best with food, even, for example, rich salami. Poorly made examples are thin and sharp. The acidity can give a beautiful lift to the sweet passito version and occasional examples can have extraordinary longevity. There are also some semi-sweet wines made in a lighter style from partially passito grapes and one or two experimental dry wines. Other wines (red as well as white made in the area are called simply Canavese, a new denomination, yet to make serious impact but accounting for about half the total production.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Alba, Italy
The town of Alba has a terrific appeal. This makes me know more about the place. The production of Piedmont's most famous wines gives the place a lure that elevates it almost to a wine lover's place of pilgrimage. Alba is certainly a major wine centre but it does not live just for wine.
Alba's main wealth comes from Miroglio, a hugely important textiles concern, which has a number of factories around the town, and from the local Ferrero chocolate company. Moreover, Alba is rather small, squashed into the narrow strip between the River Tanaro and the Langhe hills, with little space for other than a tiny old centre surrounded by a cluster of modern but smart residences.
Most of Alba's very small shops straddle one narrow street via Vittorio Emanuele II, which runs out of the central square, Piazza Savona. Several shops sell wine and more offer various types of often costly, edible goodies, not to mention truffles when in season, as well as related products, truffle oil, pate, cream, paste, etc. throughout the year. The street is even more crowded on Saturdays when market stalls fill its centre. At the other end of Vittorio Emanuele, some of Alba's famous towers draw eyes steadily upwards. Apart from these and the nobility of the Duomo San Lorenzo, Alba's magnetism quickly palls.
Alba's main wealth comes from Miroglio, a hugely important textiles concern, which has a number of factories around the town, and from the local Ferrero chocolate company. Moreover, Alba is rather small, squashed into the narrow strip between the River Tanaro and the Langhe hills, with little space for other than a tiny old centre surrounded by a cluster of modern but smart residences.
Most of Alba's very small shops straddle one narrow street via Vittorio Emanuele II, which runs out of the central square, Piazza Savona. Several shops sell wine and more offer various types of often costly, edible goodies, not to mention truffles when in season, as well as related products, truffle oil, pate, cream, paste, etc. throughout the year. The street is even more crowded on Saturdays when market stalls fill its centre. At the other end of Vittorio Emanuele, some of Alba's famous towers draw eyes steadily upwards. Apart from these and the nobility of the Duomo San Lorenzo, Alba's magnetism quickly palls.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
