Timorasso Petit Derthona 2022 – Boveri Giacomo

With roots in Colli Tortonesi dating to the early 19th century, Giacomo Boveri defines himself as a traditional winemaker. For five generations, the family has worked and perfected their agriculture talents in the province of Alessandria. Giacomo, accompanied by his wife Sara Bonadeo, took over the family holdings beginning in 1988.
In their small Piemontese corner, a special white grape variety, Timorasso, has been rediscovered. Beginning in 1987 with the winemaker/pioneer Walter Massa, the grape’s resurgence has encouraged other courageous producers to work with the lesser-known variety.
In addition to their work in helping the resurgence of this great white variety, Giacomo and Sara also cultivate Barbera along with a lesser-known local red variety, Croatina. All wines are hand harvested and see fermentation and aging exclusively in stainless steel tanks. The ‘Carassa‘ is 100% Barbera and is sourced from a 60 year old Vineyard. The ‘Firangiuli‘ is 100% Croatina from a 10 year old vineyard and also sees two years maturation in tank before bottling.

Timorasso

Timorasso is a really rare variety from Piedmont that was normally eaten as table grapes or added to Cortese production.
Wines labeled as Derthona hail from an area that encompasses 45 townships. But they only come from vineyards situated at set altitudes that exclude unsuitable areas like valley floors.
Derthona Timorasso yields full-bodied, structured wines that offer yellow stone fruit, almond and honeyed mineral notes. They have more depth, body and complexity than most Italian whites. These aren’t your classic aperitivo wines.
As vertical tastings attest, Derthona is extremely ageworthy. Bottles develop more complexity, mineral and petrol notes up to about the 15-year mark. As vines get older, the wine’s aging potential may increase, too.
Legend has it that even Leonardo da Vinci liked Timorasso wines, so much that his gift to the Duchess’ of Milan Isabella D’Aragons’ wedding, was a bottle of Timorasso.