It’s an undeniable fact that most people associate Piedmont with red wines. It’s also true that at this time of year, as the last leaves fall from the deciduous trees and we feel that chill in the air, we yearn for earthy flavours – mushrooms, truffles, hazelnuts, and of course, nebbiolo – but we forget that macerated whites also pair successfully with those same flavours.
The other day, I found myself reaching for a Monferrato Bianco DOC, made from the local grape variety timorasso.
Dont worry if this is the first time you’ve heard of timorasso; Italy has so many native grapes varieties and it is far from being the most popular one (frequently in the shadow of its immediate neighbour cortese (the main grape in Gavi wines)) but timorasso is having something of a resurgence.
I steal a few words from the expert, Robert Camuto, who wrote a column dedicated to timorasso just a couple of months ago:
Spurring the action in the last five years are big-name Barolo wineries that have moved into the area, among them Borgogno, Pio Cesare, La Spinetta, Oddero, Roagna and Vietti. Some Langhe area producers, such as Ferdinando Principiano, have taken a different strategy, planting the grape closer to home and bottling it as Langhe Bianco.
Robert Camuto – Wine Spectator – “Timorasso to the World“
These big guns are investing in the Colli Tortenesi, which also goes by Tortona’s historic name Derthona, and encroaching upon the territory of longtime-timorasso-ambassador Walter Massa and the lower-profile, more natural winemaker Enio Ferretti (La Morella.) Time will tell if this is all smoke and mirrors because despite how the numbers sound impressive (from next-to-extinct to “60 wineries, 750 acres, 100,000 cases” – thanks again, Robert) it’s a drop in the ocean compared to other white wines in the north of Italy. (For the sake of comparison: Asolo Prosecco, the prosecco only the cool kids know about – is celebrating a record: 27 million bottles made in 2023, up from 12 million five years ago!)
But, before I start to sound like Eeyore, there definitely is a small resurgence. Back in 2016, I spent a few days planting a vineyard for Stefano Bellotti with timorasso plants. More recently I’ve been talking to other winemakers – like Alessandro Poretti from Valli Unite, in the Colli Tortonesi – and they all say that demand for timorasso is increasing.
The Rocca Rondinaria winery is better known for their reds (mainly dolcetto, being in the Ovada DOC) and few years ago, I included their “Spessarí” in my round-up of Italian wines from the 2014 vintage. Giovanna and Lucesio, the couple behind Rocca Rondinaria, were able to take over an old vineyard near Rocca Grimalda (a 10 minute drive from Ovada) which had been abandoned for 30 or 40 years and they decided to plant it with timorasso.
2020 was the first vintage of this wine which they named Gaga’ – with just 1200 bottles made. In 2022, they increased production to a heady 2240 bottles… not even 200 cases!
I asked Giovanna for some more information about the vinification and got the following response: it did just 2 days of maceration on the skins, and then wild fermentation, without temperature control. I went back to pour another glug into my wine glass. Just two days?!
Take a sip and you realise that this is a powerful wine. It’s high in acid, high in alcohol too (14.5%!) and even though the length of time it spent on the skins was short, it extracted a strong tannin structure. In terms of the aromas, well, they fluctuate between honeyed and herbal with salinity (coming from the limestone soils.) We drank this timorasso with hot-smoked trout, boiled potatoes and a salad composed predominantly of beetroot, fennel and orange, and not only did it have no problems standing its own, it actually worked very well, even if I say so myself.
In short, it won me over – timorasso can count me as a new fan. It’s no pushover but, if you like to play around with food pairings, this is a very versatile wine and would have no problem punching where other white wines from Piedmont or nearby Liguria and Lombardy wouldn’t quite reach the bar. Why not give it a try?
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