There are some wine tastings that make you stop and think, reminding you of why you got excited about wine in the first place. The most recent North East Wine Tasting Society meeting was one such event – in fact, it was so memorable that, after a 5-year hiatus, it persuaded me, to dust off the keyboard, try and remember my login details, and put together this post.
Timorasso wines come from the Colli Tortonesi in the southeast of the Piedmont region just up from Genoa and the Ligurian coast. The main city is Tertona, founded in 120 BC and known since Roman times as Derthona, which is also used on the label of the local wines and may become an official D.O. name.
Timorasso is an obscure, ancient variety with some pedigree in the region (although overshadowed by Cortese made 30km to the south in Gavi) and you have to dig around the internet a little to find much information about it.
Possibly better known as a table grape in days gone by, Word on the Grapevine has Leonardo da Vinci gifting bottles of timuras for a wedding in the 1490s and suggests Timorasso was among the most planted local white varieties until at least the mid-1800s.
Unfortunately, vineyards were abandoned due to mass migration in the late 1800s, which accelerated after 2 world wars, so that by 1980 there was barely a hectare known about and the grape was on the verge of extinction.
It is Enrico Mandirola who deserves some recognition for ensuring the variety survived to then. The estate now has the oldest vines in the region dating back to 1926 (as used in the Tantei tasted below) and provided vine cuttings for grafting when the variety started becoming popular again, but the headline articles all cite Walter Massa, who thought the region could make a world-class white to rival its more famous reds.
Massa’s family winery still had about 500 vines of the variety and he made 570 bottles of his first 100% Timorasso in 1987. Since then the region’s vineyards have increased to over 430ha, with 800, 000 bottles made by over 50 producers (Forbes, 2021 – the number is closer to 100 now).
Massa himself now has 33 ha, including 3 “cru” vineyards; Sterpi, Montecitorio and Costa del Vento (the original 1980s vineyard). For more on Walter’s story see Wine Fogg, Wine Alchemy & Porto Vino.
Up until last month, I had only ever heard of it through a friend and never tasted in the glass, but Derthona wines seem to have a reputation for acidity and depth, plus being able to take (or improve from) up to 10 years in the bottle. Typically it doesn’t see (or need) any oak as it has plenty of inherent freshness and concentration. With apricot/pear and lime characters, showing honey and nuttiness with age.
Wine Fogg uses its nickname of “White Barolo” due to its ageing ability, and describe it as “Loire chenin (stone fruit) meets Santorini Assyrtiko (minerality)”.
And so to the tasting in Newcastle on the evening of 20th September 2023.
Presenting was the friend I’d mentioned, Phil. This would be his first presentation to the North East Wine Tasting Society (NEWTS) after joining a couple of years ago, but he handled the evening like a pro, aided by the fact that the wines were so damn good!
We started with a sparkling Timorasso from Mandirola, the Mon Cavaré Brut, made in the traditional method with 24 months in bottle. Only 2000 bottles were produced using grapes from 30-year-old vines. It had a fresh, fruity nose with some sweet melon and apple, a lively (frothy) mousse and a bitter finish. When the bubbles dropped away it went into a limey dry wine, hints of new-world Riesling and very enjoyable.
2nd was Walter Massa’s “entry-level” 2022 Piccolo Derthona, which was “a pleasant surprise” for the room. Golden coloured with a powerful, creamy nose and a hint of sherbet, it had a forward approach with ripe fruit – buttery, with a little stone-fruit (or pear?), textured with a sugary sweet edge (sherbet again) and a herbal, mineral finish. It was well-received and set the scene for the following wines, although when what remained in the glass was re-visited at the end of the evening it tasted a little simple in comparison (as one would probably expect).
Then to the Bategazzore 2020 Derthona, from winemaker Bruno Battegazzore, a qualified (and practising) architect who revived his grandfather’s 1.5ha vineyard in 2016, producing his first vintage a year later.
The wine had a rich, mineral nose and a focussed, initially linear approach, but then expanded (exploded!) into a weighty, complex mid-palate with a hint of cream-soda around the edges. It had lovely balance, and a citrus-mineral finish that developed into lemon cheesecake flavours. The texture and structure were impressive, weighty with some reductive aspects and an almost tannic component. It improved noticeably in the glass, the nose especially – “delicacy and interest” was a comment from the room.
4th was from Barolo producer Borgono, one of the influx of “outsiders” who are starting to realise what Derthona may offer to their portfolio. The 2021 Derthona had a closed, reductive nose with a little nuttiness. On the approach it was rich and “woody” (no oak was used in production!) – a bit chewy with a grapefruit finish. Once the reductiveness had blown off there was a sharp citrus component, but it was agreed it was a “chunky wine”, not settled, although it had enough components to suggest it might be worth trying again in a few years.
Next was (my personal favourite of the night) Claudio Mariotto’s 2019 Pitasso Derthona, one of the bigger local producers. The nose had a hint of apple and honey and the approach was smooth with a bit of stone fruit and nutty edges. The mid-palate was full, with a touch of white pepper and a delicate, just-bitter (but creamy) finish. One year on the lees and another in bottle before release (plus 2 more before we opened it) had allowed the components to mellow and balance, giving a full and comforting mouthfeel. Although this was the first wine where you could detect the alcohol as a gentle warmth, you didn’t mind at all. A lovely, beautiful wine.
Following that was always going to be hard, but the Mandirola 2018 Tantei was such a contrast that direct comparison was impossible. This wine was originally made for the American market from old vines (planted in 1926) and was a bit of an outlier in the tasting. It had a darker colour with a (Seville) orange marmalade nose, the approach was dry and a little challenging, nutty with a hint of oak. The bitter marmalade was apparent on the finish too, which had a little sourness on the end and made it a divisive wine. Some, like me, loved its unusual components, but others disliked the orange-marmalade aspects and said it fell away in the glass, “on an ebb-tide”.
7th on the list was Vigneti Massa’s second offering of the night, with the 2015 Sterpi Derthona, a single vineyard wine fermented on indigenous yeast in steel vats. Sterpi means “brushwood”, recalling the condition of the land before Massa replanted vines.
It showed a dairy nose with a bit of caramel, reminding me of dulce-de-leche. The approach was clean and creamy, with a structured and slightly spicy mid-palate and lightly citrus (lime-leaf) aspect. There was a little warmth (although at 13.5% it was one of the lighter alcohol wines of the night), but this was a smooth and comforting wine, enjoyably easy to forget about as you finish off the glass and then notice how good it really was!
Finally, we had the oldest wine of the evening, Cascina Montagnola’s 2013 Morasso, a wine that on first sniff made me write “wow!” as I took in a smoky nose with some graphite and fresh mushroom. On the palate it started sharp with lime zest, then softened with some sweet citrus acidity with a touch of sourness. There was well-integrated fruit and structure but it was fundamentally fresh and sharp, challenging the palate but leaving it invigorated. At 10 years old maybe this gave us a clue as to why people say Timorasso ages well, regardless, it was a superb way to end a most enjoyable evening.
(Thanks to Chairman Greig Wilson for the Instagram video!)
All of the wines had been sourced personally by Phil on a trip to the region earlier in the year, assisted by Nick from Wine Fogg, whom he’d met through their joint love of unusual grapes and regions on Vivino! Prices therefore are in Euros as most of the wines are not available in the U.K. (at least not yet!).
Below are the full label details, plus references to the producers and possible retail sources that I could find. Shelved Wine also used to have a few bottles of Massa’s 2019 Sterpi and Mariotto’s 2018 Derthona, until I bought them all the weekend after the tasting (sorry!).
Wines |
Source^ |
|
AbV |
1. Mandirola Mon Cavaré Brut Classical |
c.o.o. N/A UK |
|
12.5% |
2. Vigneti Massa 2022 Piccolo Derthona |
c.o.o. N/A UK £15.59 from Decantalo |
|
13% |
3. Vignaioli Battegazzore 2020 Derthona |
c.o.o. N/A UK |
|
14% |
4. Borgono 2021 Derthona |
Aroma Wines (It) Case of 6 (2020) from Renaissance Vintners |
|
14% |
5. Claudio Mariotto 2019 Pitasso Derthona |
c.o.o. 2018 from Italian Wine Selection (2018 Derthona £29.95 from Master of Malt) |
|
14.5% |
6. Mandirola 2018 Tantei Timorasso |
c.o.o. N/A UK |
|
14% |
7. Vigneti Massa 2015 Sterpi Derthona |
c.o.o. N/A UK |
|
13.5% |
8. Cascina Montagnola 2013 Morasso |
c.o.o. N/A UK |
|
14.5% |
- References: