Timorasso wine guide

Timorasso is the white grape variety that dominates Tortona hills, a wine with a shining past, then forgotten and luckily revived in the 1980s.

But let’s not waste time in preambles and let’s say it immediately: Timorasso is one of the best Italian white wines, because of its complex elegance, for the splendid minerality, because of the enveloping and so original aromas of dried fruit, but above all for its great aging potential.

History of Timorasso grape

Before the phylloxera slaughter, Timorasso was widespread not only in the province of Alessandria, but also in Liguria, near Genoa, and the Oltrepò Pavese. It was and still is, the great antagonist of Cortese-Gavi, but part of its past success was since it was committed as a table grape.

Today the situation has been reversed and from a mainstream grape for table consumption, Timorasso has become an indigenous grape of great value. Even if many have not noticed it, we are experiencing the Renaissance of this noble wine, thanks to the stubborn diligence of the Tortonese winemakers, where Timorasso is giving commendable results.

Organoleptic characteristics of Timorasso

The wines are complex, multifaceted, endowed with saline thickness, depth, but also measure and subtle finesse. Over the years they develop incredible tertiary aromas, dried fruit as if it were raining, an absurd floral charm and great herbaceous elegance.

Timorasso bouquet

It starts with a juicy fruit based on plums and citrus fruits, with cedar and peels. It is not a fat nose, on the contrary, it is very thin and penetrating. There is no shortage of beeswax, honey, aromatic herbs, abundant flowers and mineral hints of stones and rocks.

What does Timorasso wine taste like?

On the palate, it has good alcohol content, but it is never too full-bodied, thanks to the mineral thickness and good acidity that plays down and makes the wine drinkable and sharp. The sip is liquid joy, limestone and rocks distilled in pure nectar which is supported by a pulpy yellow fruit. Persistence and texture are outstanding, few are the wines so elegant and engaging while maintaining a taut and juicy palate.

Production area of ​​Timorasso

If Timorasso is a champion with unique characteristics, Cortese is, on the contrary, more docile and malleable and in terms of cultivated hectares, it is much more widespread in southern Piedmont. Both are two treasures of Italian enology and can easily share a splendid territory such as that of Tortona, in the province of Alessandria. The DOC that includes Timorasso are Derthona DOC and Colli Tortonesi Timorasso DOC.

The history of Timorasso

The first written sources take us back to 1885 when the Ampelographic Bulletin talks about the spread of Timorasso in the hills of Tortona and Oltrepò Pavese. The fact is that outside of Piedmont the diffusion of Timorasso is scarce and therefore we can safely consider it an indigenous Piedmontese vine.

Average Timorasso price

All this stuff, care, elegance and finesse are paid for. Do not think that Timorasso is cheap wine since as a price you have to consider a minimum price of 10-15 euros. Let’s say that its ideal price range for buying good bottles is 15 euros. But be careful it does not mean that it is an expensive or expensive wine, on the contrary, it is among the best deals you can do in Italy. Most of the wines are tailor-made-artisanal or whatever you like to call them, but they are all produced by human-managed wineries and not by cooperatives or social wineries. You pay for quality, rightly so!

Service temperature

Variable, it is not so easy to give general indications. Always consider the type of wine you are pouring into the glass. If it is a wine that has not been macerated and is more drinkable, serve it at 10 degrees. If, on the other hand, you have a Timorasso that has macerated in the glass, do not serve it at too low a temperature: 12-14 degrees is ideal. Otherwise, you would emphasize the hard parts.

Timorasso Derthona food pairings

The simplest bottles are excellent for pairing with fish, appetizers such as veal with tuna sauce, pad thai, vegetable curry with coconut milk. But remember that it is a thick wine, so pair it also with white meats, truffle risotto, chicken alla diavola, spaghetti allo scoglio. Recommended dishes: carbonara, paccheri stuffed with swordfish, pine nuts and raisins, tagliolini with nettle and squid sauce, risotto alla marinara, rice and bisi, paella, pad thai.