Cieck Erbaluce Di Caluso

Cieck are in San Giorgio Canavese, Piedmont, between the towns of Turin and Ivrea, where they cultivate 13 hectares of vineyards. The grapes are almost all Erbaluce, an ancient white grape variety native to the Canavese district. The rest are also native varieties: Nebbiolo, Barbera, Neretto and Freisa.

What makes this area special is the use of the “pergola” vine training system, which creates large canopies in the vineyard. With this system the staff have to reach up to harvest the grapes. The estate was established in 1985, just a few kilometres from San Giorgio, in Aglie. Initially, it was just for fun. The intention was to become a small producer of sparkling wine. Remo, a typewriter designer for Olivetti and the son of farmers, travelled to France to learn how to make sparkling wine. In 1985, he set up the estate with just a few hectares of vineyard and vinified his first harvest: just over 2,500 bottles of Erbaluce Metodo Classico. It was released for sale in 1987. This was the debut of the Cieck estate, named after the old farmhouse in Aglie where it all began. Since then, Cieck have moved to the locality of Castagnola, in San Giorgio Canavese.

Erbaluce,

Pergola training, on loose, moraine soils, rich in stone. Average altitude: approx. 320 m above sea level Exposure: south, south-westerly Average age: 50 years.

The grapes are destemmed and pressed to obtain the must, which clears as it settles. Low-temperature fermentation preserves all the scents of the grapes and last for 21 days. The wine spends the next four months in steel to stabilise. Bottled at the beginning of spring.

North of Torino and south of the Val d'Aosta there's a tiny DOCG for a rare white grape variety... Erbaluce.

The wine is a dull straw yellow colour in the glass with greenish highlights. Fresh on the nose, with characteristic notes of hawthorn and fruit, harmonising delightfully with the vigorous structure of this wine. On the palate this is a youthful and vigorous wine, nicely acidic, with very pleasant and intensely fruity sensations.

Excellent with freshwater fish, light creamy dishes, antipasti, vegetarian and vegan dishes.