2022 Vigneti Massa Derthona Timorasso
Vigneti Massa
When Walter Massa started to work with the family winery in Colli Tortonesi, he decided to try something different than the popular barbera. He felt that the region was perhaps more suited to white grapes than to red. And he happened to have some Timorasso in his vineyard.
In the late 80s, Walter made his first wine from 100% Timorasso, probably the first to do so. It was an experiment to see what it gave. He had found not even 500 vines in his vineyard. In 1987 there were only 1.2 acres left of Timorasso. That was probably mostly Walter Massa’s less than 500 vines. Today, the Colli Tortonesi (the “Tortona Hills”) is, fortunately, an appellation that is growing. Today, the plantings of Timorasso have grown to 430 acres. Fifty-one wineries produce Timorasso wine today; 800,000 bottles are made.
Most of the producers are small family wineries that have been motivated by the enthusiasm – and success – of Walter Massa to revive the grape variety.
Today, the wines are sold as DOC Colli Tortonesi Timorasso, but there are plans to introduce the denomination Tortona Timorasso, or even use the name Derthona which is the old name for the town of Tortona. Already today, many producers choose to put Derthona on the label as a distinguishing mark.