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Il Circo: Erbaluce di Caluso "La Funambola"

Il Circo: Erbaluce di Caluso "La Funambola" Wine Details
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Description: Erbaluce is a variety shrouded in legend and mystery. The favored creation myth—to which the locals are very emotionally attached—tells of a child of celestial beings, Albaluce, born on a bric, or hilltop, near the town of Caluso. After a long period of much celebration and paying of homage and fresh cheeses and gift baskets, etc., it was time to pay the piperini and something akin to a drought descended upon the land. This made the goddess Albaluce very sad indeed and many tears did she cry. However, up from the ground upon which those tears fell grew erbaluce vines and the rest blah blah blah. The wine itself is pure sunlight—brilliant, crisp and clear—and a torrent of lemon chiffon, white peach and almond. It also shows a modest yet very pleasing astringency on the back palate. The vines from which this wine is produced are relatively elderly, which endows the erbaluce with significant depth of flavor and a strong impression of minerality of which we are profoundly jealous. It has not seen any wood, but has benefited from significant lees contact, a practice that gives the wine an extrmely creamy texture to balance its acidity. A model of Wallendian grace, it is a perfect apéritif and conventional wisdom suggests it will pair nicely with mild cheeses, shellfish, poached salmon—the usual suspects. We recommend, however, pairing it with more challenging, high-wire dishes like scallop carpaccio, grilled wild mushrooms or even the oh-so-Piemontese steak tartare. Leap, and the net most assuredly will appear.




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