Product information

Vietti Derthona Timorasso Colli Tortonesi 2020

Timorasso from Colli Tortonesi, Piedmont, Italy

$80

$76ea in any 3+
$72ea in any 6+
Closure: Cork

Description

The latest addition to the Vietti portfolio sees a white from the eastern most border of the Piedmont region. A perfect fit for Vietti with regard to their history of working with varietals of merit that for one reason or another have diminished over time.

Timorasso makes beautiful wine the Massa is a cracker. I can’t wait to try Vietti’s version. With a wonderful array of flavours, textures, and, wonderful acidity the variety is loaded with personality & intrigue.


For the 2019: The 2019 Timorasso is powerful, layered and ample. Apricot, white flowers, almond, graphite and chamomile all grace this ample, textured Timorasso. Tropical and petrol notes grace the expansive finish. A bit of skin contact adds quite a texture. The 2019 is a big step up from the 2018. A big step.

Antonio Galloni, Vinous

In stock

Check out all of the wines by Vietti

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Denomination: Colli Tortonesi DOC Timorasso

Grapes: Timorasso

Winemaking: the grapes are selected from different vineyards located in Monleale (Alessandria Province), with a south-east and south-west exposure and a clay-limestone soil. Fermentation lasts 4 weeks and occurs  partly in cermic and partly in wooden and stainless steel casks. It does not undergo malolactic fermentation.

Aging: 10 months in ceramic, wooden and stainless steel casks, on fine lees maintained in suspension with batonnage

Description: clear, intense yellow colour with green hues. Pear and peach fruit scents. Aromas, of acacia and hawthorn flowers with typical honey notes.
In some cases, after 2/3 years mineral notes are more intense and show hydrocarbons. On the palate it is dry, warm, soft and very well balanced, without edges. It has a long lingering finish with a good acidity.

Food pairings: raw meat, fresh cold-cuts, warm and cold appetizers, first courses with strong flavours and meat dishes. After a few years in the bottle, this wine is perfect with seasoned cheese.

For the First Time 3 New Wines

The Barbaresco Masseria (a trade name not a vineyard name) has been made many times. This is the first time it has been made with fruit from the fabled Roncaglie Cru. The Monvigliero was made with the help of Jeremy Seysses of Dujac, whole bunch expert, a technique often used in Verduno. The Cerquio is from a parcel acquired from Michele Chiarlo.

The Prologue

Luca & Elena have always stayed true to their convictions, and, history, acknowledging the wisdom of their family, and elder peers. While their Cru Barolos have brought them international fame, they have worked to protect patches of history for both their family and the region. Listen to Luca share his stories of retaining the Scarrone vineyard planted to Barbera when his father had planned to replant it to Nebbiolo, saving Arneis from being reconciled to a note in a wine book, and, more recently going back to Barbaresco, acquiring a parcel or Rabajà, and this becomes clear.

Luca & me sending interantion communications to our mutual friend, Alex, from Domaine Bernard Moreau

The drive for constant improvement continues with a parcel of Monvigliero now in the stables, whole bunch techniques are being applied with the help of Jeremy Seysses from Dujac. Meanwhile, Vietti started making Timorasso in 2018. Grapes for this white coming from vineyards located in Monleale in the Alessandria Province.

The 2018 Barolos are absolutely beautiful. There is not much more to say than that. Over the years, Luca Currado and Elena Penna have dialed in a style that works well for these vineyards. The Vietti Barolos are marked by intense fruit that is partly the result of bleeding the musts. The Barolos are done entirely in cask these days, which is a great complement to all of that intensity. Time on the skins ranged from three weeks or so for the Brunate and Lazzarito to as much as five weeks for the Ravera and Rocche. All of the wines were done with submerged cap maceration. “These were some of our longest macerations of the last three years,” Luca Currado explained.

Readers will note the addition of two new wines that have been thrilling since the first day I tasted them. The first is from a choice parcel in Cerequio Vietti acquired from Michele Chiarlo. The new Monvigliero is made in conjunction with Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac and has some whole cluster influence. As much as I hope stems don’t become a trend in Piedmont like French oak barrels did in the 1990s, there is little question whole clusters seem to work especially well in Monvigliero. These wines are simply brilliant. There is not much more to say than that.

Galloni

A Little About Vietti

Back in 2005, I spent some time at Vietti. Their winery sits in the castle atop Castiglione Falletto. It’s walls broken by slit windows for archers to defend the grounds. The escape tunnel leading from the castle to the plains below had been filled in only a few years prior to my visit. Somehow they’ve managed to modernise aspects of the winery carving into the rock without collapsing the ancient buildings surrounding it.

One of my earlier experience of Vietti was at the Australian Wine Research Institutes Advanced Wine Assessment Course. A blind bracket of 9 Nebbiolo’s was presented, Vietti’s Perbacco from 1998 and Brunate from 1996. The Brunate was superb. My notes from the tasting read “Very complex, great harmony, texture, rich, long, very together, perfumed, incredible layers and vibrancy.” The Perbacco excellent, particularly at 1/8th the price. “Great purity, balance, and poise. Supple with an excellent core of fruit and lovely floral notes.”

In many ways, little has changed. Perbacco, typically declassified Barolo, is the wine to crack while you’re waiting for your Barolo to mature!

Vietti intrigues me. Some of the best Barolo I have devoured have come from their winery. Watching the wines evolve over time, both the same vintage and across vintages has been fascinating. Modern technology at times pierced the tradition. Last year a vertical tasting going back to 1982 was fascinating. It again highlighted my growing consensus that the drinking window for good Barolo, from great years, starts at around 10 years and is right in the zone between 15 and 20 years.

Whilst Vietti have always produced more structured wines, the wines have always shown harmony and balance. The difficult 2011 year was perhaps a sign of a maturity and wisdom in the winemaking. They guided the fruit to a state of great harmony and balance in that year, pulling back on the structural elements to produce wines that were drinking superbly in late 2016.

In the last couple of years, I have devoured many more Vietti wines including a 1996 Villero Riserva and 1997 Rocche di Castiglione. Both would be in the top dozen Barolos I’ve every been lucky enough to devour!

Luca and Elenor’s wisdom has continued to build in the following years. Year after year the wines are getting better and better.

A couple of podcasts with the Vietti Crew


If you have some Italian there’s are a bit of fun too!

The 2020 Vintage

 

Where in the World is Vietti?

The Krause Family bought Vietti a couple of years back, leaving, Luca and the Family in full control of production, hence the name below. The winery based in Castiglione Falletto now has additional vineyard sources in Barolo with Monvigliero in Verduno in the very North of the Barolo region, Rabajà & Roncaglie in the Barbaresco, and, Timorasso plantings in the Colli Tortonesi, the most eastern part of Piedmont. In addition, they have plantings in the Roero and Asti (the Barbera d’Asti Tre Vigne is a cracker).

Click to Enlarge🔍

This 3D flyover is Epic covering each of the communes you can see just how varied and extreme the aspect of each vineyard is and how in the space of a few metres just how dramatically the change.

Mouthwatering

Aromas of apricot stone and yellow nectarine are joined by floral notes, lime, and lime blossom. On the palate this shows lively, exuberant autumn apples, a hint of lemon oils and pith, fennel bulb, and mashed hard pears. The finish is lifted with a touch of lemon blossom and honeysuckle. Fascinating: It vacillates between semi-aromatic and more earthy in character, all of it beautifully balanced with acidity. Mouthwatering and complex, and a fantastic addition to the
already impressive Vietti portfolio.

Brian Freedman

Where in the world does the magic happen?

Vietti, Piazza Vittorio Veneto, Castiglione Falletto, Province of Cuneo, Italy

Colli Tortonesi
Piedmont
Italy