What to Know about Timorasso, Piedmont’s White Barolo

Piedmont’s legendary red wines, particularly Barolo and Barbaresco, have long secured their status as some of the world’s most iconic, but the region’s undulating hills also lay claim to one of Italy’s great white wines: Timorasso. 

Tucked away in the southeastern corner of Piedmont, the Colli Tortonesi Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) sits in the shadow of more famous names like Langhe, Asti, and Monferrato. It’s here that Timorasso’s favor has come and gone throughout centuries, only to experience a renaissance in the late 20th century thanks to the indefatigable efforts of local winemaker Walter Massa. 

“Everything started with Walter,” says Ernest Ifkovitz, founder of Italian wine importer PortoVino.

“It’s the counterpoint to Nebbiolo,” says Ifkovitz about Timorasso. It’s a view shared by many in the wine world. 

Dubbed “White Barolo” due to its exceptional aging potential, Timorasso is everything one could want in a wine — incredibly expressive, food friendly, and long lived. 

The History of Timorasso

Like all the greats, Timorasso has a story to tell. An ancient grape of uncertain parentage, it hails from the province of Alessandria, specifically in Comune di Tortona and the Colli Tortonesi area of Piedmont. The area is rich in gastronomic heritage, a perfect place to set the scene.  

Timorasso’s history dates to at least the 14th century, when the first references to the grape are considered to appear, which ranks it among the oldest varieties in Piedmont. 

“For centuries, it was considered Piedmont’s most important white grape in terms of vineyard surface and production,” says Marco Volpi, fifth-generation winemaker at Cantine Volpi.

But only a few decades ago, Timorasso flirted with extinction. With late and often uneven ripening, low yields, and high susceptibility to disease pressure, Timorasso was never the easiest variety to work with, but after concerns following the phylloxera outbreak in the late 19th century, it was an even less popular choice for replanting.

“After World War II, due to rural depopulation and the economic boom, planting declined drastically,” says Volpi. “By the late 20th century, the grape was nearly forgotten, with less than three hectares [around 7.5 acres] of vineyards left.” 

Timorasso was largely relegated to table grape status and occasionally used in blends. Instead, growers favored varieties like Barbera and Cortese. Their higher and more reliable yields as well as Cortese’s resilience meant steadier profit in an industry subject to nature’s whims. 

At the time, the region was largely a producer of bulk wines, and no one was terribly interested in challenging the status quo. At least, not until fifth-generation grower Walter Massa decided to take a new approach. 

Interested in releasing his own wine rather than selling bulk, Massa began bottling Barbera and Cortese. By the late 1980s, he opted to experiment with the tiny pocket of Timorasso in his family vineyards. 

Colli Tortonesi’s soils consist of calcareous clay and limestone, and its higher elevation (between 820–2,130 feet) made Massa think white wines could perform well here. The tasty table grape held potential. 

“Basically, he had a quorum of vineyards to make a 50-hectoliter [roughly 13,000 gallon] tank,” says Ifkovitz. “He tasted it and it just wasn’t good. All of his hopes were dashed.” 

But like all great winemakers, Walter Massa is something of an artist. 

“He waited two years, then it totally changed,” says Ifkovitz. “All the complexity came out.”

When Massa started, there was a scant amount of Timorasso left in Piedmont. Many of his peers thought backing Timorasso was madness. But as Massa continued his crusade, replanting parcels with Timorasso and crafting his wines, the Tortonesi winemakers began to see he was on to something. Many winemakers went to Massa for cuttings. 

“His first official bottlings in the early 1990s sparked excitement and inspired others, like Andrea Mutti and Paolo Poggio, to follow his lead,” says Volpi. “By the 2000s, more producers joined and the movement gained momentum. My father Carlo planted our first Timorasso vineyard in 2003.”

Today, a new generation of winemakers has embraced Timorasso. Tortona’s hillsides boast upwards of 740 acres, up from around 74 in 2010. And while it’s a recognized subzone of the Colli Tortonesi DOC, the local consortium of winemakers has been lobbying for separate DOC status for Derthona, so-called after the Roman name for Tortona. 

“Timorasso is at the very beginning of what could be a beautiful story of recovery of an abandoned variety that led to the valorization of an entire territory,” says Volpi. 

Frankly, the future has never looked better for Piedmont’s most noble white grape.

The characteristics of Timorasso wine

In youth, Timorasso is fresh and floral. There’s stone, citrus, and tropical fruits laced with honey. They are high-acid wines with a prominent mineral backbone. 

“The Colli Tortonesi has a very particular combination of climate and geology,” says Volpi of the region’s terroir. “Cold winters, steady rainfall, and high temperature swings during grape ripening help Timorasso develop both richness and freshness. The soils, mostly ancient marine deposits and calcareous marl, provide excellent structure and minerality.”

Many of the region’s top producers age their Timorassos on the lees — a style pioneered by Massa — which gives the wines a creaminess and further enhances their complexity. 

The grape’s natural high acidity makes it a fabulously versatile, food-friendly wine when it’s time to sit down to dinner. 

“It works beautifully with Piedmontese specialties such as truffle-based dishes, aged cheeses like Montebore, or hearty cured meats such as Salame Nobile del Giarolo,” says Volpi. “It also shines with seafood, spicy food, creamy risottos, and roasted white meats, making it a versatile partner at the table. Between all of the above, my favorite is the pairing with a nice Montebore cheese — a local cheese obtained by blending three different milks: cow, sheep, and goat.”

Timorasso’s sobriquet “White Barolo” is not for nothing. Not only are the wines terrifically fine, offering a sensory experience even the most hard-line red-wine drinkers will appreciate, but Timorasso’s aging potential means it starts truly coming into its own after three or four years. Age brings spice, almond, honey, and a petrol note not unlike Riesling, and the best vintages can continue maturing for well over a decade. 

Bottles to Try

Vigneti Massa Colli Tortonesi Timorasso Derthona

The one that started it all, by the legendary Massa himself. It offers ripe mandarin, stone fruits, lemon blossom, acacia, and honey aromas, with beautifully integrated acidity on the palate. One of the longest-lived examples out there, Massa’s Derthona calls for a few years of aging before uncorking. 

La Colombera Colli Tortonesi Timorasso Derthona “Il Montino”

Led by Elisa Semino, who works closely with her father and brother, La Colombera bottles some of the loveliest Timorassos available. Il Montino is a single-vineyard expression crafted from organically farmed grapes grown at 820-feet above sea level. Wonderfully expressive, with ample peach, white flowers, and herbs. 

Giacomo Borgogno & Figli Colli Tortonesi Timorasso Derthona

The storied Barolo producer Borgogno & Figli farms around 7.5 acres of Timorasso in Monleale. It’s all citrus and spice, peach and pear, followed by white tree blossoms, chamomile, honey, and a touch of marzipan. Age teases out rich honey notes and a touch of nuttiness — it’s definitely one that’s worth waiting for.

Cantine Volpi Colli Tortonesi Timorasso Derthona “La Zerba”

“The area of La Zerba hill is dominated by clay-rich soils and calcareous marl from the Tortonian era, the same geological formation found in Barolo (marne di Sant’Agata Fossili); these ancient marine sediments give our Timorasso its signature mineral edge and freshness but also depth, and capacity to age gracefully,” says Volpi. La Zerba opens with attractive peach, yellow plum, and melon layered over white flowers and a hint of herbs. Cantine Volpi’s take spends time aging in oak to yield a rounder, marvelously lush, exceptionally long-lived expression of Timorasso.

Ezio Poggio Archetipo Timorasso Colli Tortonesi Terre di Libarna 

“He’s geographically an outlier,” says Ifkovitz of Ezio Poggio. The sole producer in Val Borbera, Ezio Poggio makes Timorasso from grapes grown at over 1,969 feet in elevation. The more extreme conditions yield a leaner, slightly more savory Timorasso that’s dominated by ripe citrus, fresh florals, lemongrass, and flint.