Bruno Giacometto "Aὐτόχϑ∞ν" Erbaluce di Caluso, Piedmont, Italy 2022

FROM THE PIEDMONT GUY:

THE WINE: “Aὐτόχϑ∞ν” Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG is made from 100% Erbaluce grapes. First produced in 2013, this wine is a special selection of 30- to 50-year-old vines from the Macelio and Madonna vineyards. Its name is a whimsical Greek spelling of the word autochthonous, celebrating the fact that only the indigenous yeasts of the grapes themselves are used during fermentation.

THE PRODUCER: Bruno Giacometto is the force behind a dazzling array of bottlings vinified naturally from Erbaluce, a thick-skinned, high-acid white grape variety native to northern Piedmont. Bruno’s ebullience belies his age, and he claims to have never married because Erbaluce is the one true love of his life. Erbaluce di Caluso was Piedmont’s first official white-wine appellation, formalized as a DOC in 1967 and subsequently elevated to DOCG status in 2010. The DOCG encompasses only Erbaluce grown in the zone of Caluso, “where the best Erbaluce wines in Italy are made,” according to Wine Scholar Ian D’Agata. With centuries of family ties to the historic town of Caluso and a winemaking lineage dating back to the early 1960s, Bruno feels most at home in the pergola-trained Erbaluce vineyards of his zone, though he also maintains small parcels of native red grapes like Nebbiolo, Barbera, Neretto, and Freisa. The estate of Bruno Giacometto has been certified organic by ICEA since 2019.