2022 Oliviero Pastoris, Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG “La Norezza” Italy.
I’m a huge fan of Erbaluce di Caluso, and love the wines of Favaro and Ferrando, but winemaker Eugenio Pastoris believes his vineyards that are in Viverone and at the eastern end of the Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG zone is more Alto Piemonte than Caluso in geology and gives his wines a certain unique distinction. The beautiful deep straw hued 2022 Pastoris Erbaluce is wonderfully stony and aromatic with a brisk dry medium bodied palate of white peach, quince, lemon/lime, lingering apple and muskmelon fruits, along with flinty mineral, unsweetened honeycomb, bitter almond, white blossoms, thyme and citrus oil. The winery notes that the grape vines are grown on complex, stony, acidic morainic soils made from ancient glaciers, which are more commonly seen in the Alto Piemonte, like in the Ghemme and parts of the Coste della Seisa, which give depth and a striking mineral intensity, that makes sense, when tasting this Pastoris Erbaluce. Indigenous to Caluso, the Erbaluce grape is a rarity, but has the presence of a elegant white Burgundy, especially when lees aged, that adds texture, is slightly reductive, and made without malolactic conversion, as seen here. In recent years we’ve seen an exciting revival of Piemonte white grapes, with rare native varietals like Timorasso Derthona, from near Barolo and Erbaluce di Caluso being excellent examples to search out and enjoy, and I recommend checking out these Pastoris wines, with this one, and the Nebbiolo being tasty values as well.
New to me, the Oliviero Pastoris label, is now led by Eugenio Pastoris, who humbly says “Honestly, my style is under construction because I am young.” That may be, but there’s some potential here and I loved his Erbaluce and even his basic Nebbiolo bottling and look forward to tasting more of Eugenio’s wines as they become available here in the States. Taking over from his father Massimo, Eugenio Pastoris Eugenio, who studied Latin and engineering, realized his scientific mind wasn’t meant to be working behind a desk or being a racing engineer for Formula 1, a sport his importer says he’s still obsessed with. So It was to return home to his family’s organically farmed vineyards in the remote town Viverone, northwest of Turino at the edge of the Alto Piemonte. With the rise in popularity to the rare native Erbaluce grape, Eugenio wanted to be a revolutionary figure in in the area and return to the lost local appellations of Collina Morenica Bianco, made in the hills of Viverone with Erbaluce, and Collina Morenica Rosso Rubino, for wines made with Nebbiolo, Freisa, Croatina and/or Barbera. Interestingly, according to The Source Imports, both of these classifications were abandoned when Italy joined the European Union, and are labeled now under the appellation names of Erbaluce di Caluso and Canavese Rosso. For a few years, Eugenio was working with his father, Massimo, and enologist, Cristiano Garella, a northern Piemonte specialist and respected consulting winemaker to get his hand in and now is having more of a influence in the wines to good effect, especially these 2021 and 2022 bottlings. The Alto Piemonte is one of the hot spots for the wine world these days and producers like this is one of the reasons.
($23 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive