Description
Timorasso, a native Italian grape variety is utterly unique, complex, capable of aging, and transparent to where it’s grown. Walter Massa is the contadino straordinario who brought the grape back to life in the early 1980s. He remains the leading producer and go-to grower for Timorasso. (From the importer)
Derthona is the ancient name for Tortona, the town in southeast Piemonte after which the appellation Colli Tortonesi (Tortona Hills) is named. We often say that Timorasso is like Ali: “Float like a butterfly (baroque fruit and honeyed minerality) and sting like a bee (lots of well-integrated acidity)”. Timorasso is one of the longest-aging white varieties in Italy. In fact, the wine often needs an extra year or two in bottle before it becomes expressive and fun to drink. Good vintages easily age five to 10 years, and we’ve has bottles going back to the 1980s that remained alive. It’s especially fun to pour this wine blind for your friends who love aged white Burgundy or Riesling — after which you can point out that it costs half or a third of what a village-level white Burgundy would cost.