Timorasso: How a Near-Lost Grape Became Piemonte's Serious White

Saved by one grower in the hills around Tortona, Timorasso now covers close to 500 hectares and has Barolo houses making it too.

Il Vino Bello ·

Timorasso: How a Near-Lost Grape Became Piemonte's Serious White

Drive east from the Langhe towards Tortona and the first folds of the Apennines, and you reach the home of a white grape that very nearly disappeared. Timorasso is now tipped by Gambero Rosso to lead Piemonte's white wines, and some of Barolo's best-known names have come looking for it.

A grape that almost vanished

Timorasso is an old variety of the Colli Tortonesi, the hills around Tortona in the province of Alessandria. After phylloxera, when the vineyards were replanted, growers largely left it out. The reason, in the words of the wine magazine Winemag, was its fragilità produttiva: it was an unreliable performer in the vineyard.

By the late 1980s it was close to extinct. Between then and the early 1990s a local grower, Walter Massa, set about recovering it. He also coined a name for his wine: Derthona, the Roman name for Tortona. He later handed that name, and the entry-level Piccolo Derthona, over to the whole territory rather than keeping them for himself. You can find Vigneti Massa on the site.

From a handful of rows to more than 500 hectares

The numbers show how fast things have moved. According to Gambero Rosso, there were just three hectares of Timorasso in 2000. By September 2026 the consorzio put the figure at more than 500, up from about 100 in 2016, while its member producers went from about 40 to 120 over the same decade. Gambero Rosso also points to a group of very small growers under 35 making their first or second vintages. Output has grown with the vineyards: the consorzio reported 1.7 million bottles for 2025, almost double the mildew-hit 2024 and above a historical average of about a million.

The growth has come from inside the zone and from outside it. Gambero Rosso notes the arrival of Barolo producers, who came looking for a great white to sit beside the king of reds. On our own pages you will find Timorasso from Langhe houses such as Vietti, Fontanafredda, Giacomo Borgogno & Figli and La Spinetta, next to growers from the Tortonese itself like Claudio Mariotto, Mandirola, Luca Canevaro and the Cantina di Tortona cooperative.

To keep that growth orderly, the consorzio said in September 2026 that, in agreement with the farmers' associations, it would allot no eligibility for new plantings in the next round. Any further increase is to come from hectares already authorised as they come into production. The 2026 harvest itself came early: picking for the entry-level wine began the week after Ferragosto, and the consorzio described the grapes as unusually healthy.

What the wine is like

Timorasso is a white with real weight. Gambero Rosso describes a grape whose extreme acidity is softened by the sun, with alcohol usually between 13.5 and 15 per cent. It can also show a distinctive petrol-like note from TDN, the same aromatic molecule found in Riesling.

It also rewards patience. The same article reports that the wines reach their peak after five or six years and then settle there, especially under screwcap. That is not something you often hear about a Piemonte white.

If you are ordering one for the first time, a few pointers:

  • Piccolo Derthona is the youngest, on sale from March of the year after the harvest.
  • Derthona is released from September of the year after the harvest.
  • Riserva waits at least 27 months after the vintage.

The fight over a name

Those three names are at the centre of a debate this year. The consorzio, led by Gian Paolo Repetto, asked back in 2020 to turn Derthona into an official subzone of the Colli Tortonesi denomination, with Piccolo Derthona, Derthona and Derthona Riserva as its three levels.

In March 2026 Winemag reported that the national Wine Committee in Rome had turned down the proposal as written. Its objection was the word "Piccolo", which it saw as a qualitative adjective that could confuse buyers, even though around 100,000 bottles already carry the name and it has been on the market since 2013.

The consorzio has not given up. In April, after the sixth Derthona Due.Zero preview in Tortona, Repetto said it still meant to complete the Derthona subzone, and that the amended rules were under examination by the national committee at the agriculture ministry. We had not found a report of a final decision when this article was last checked, in November 2026.

Where to start

The 2027 guides make a good shopping list. Gambero Rosso gave Tre Bicchieri to three Timorasso wines labelled Derthona: Claudio Mariotto's Pitasso 2024, Lacrime del Bricco 2023 from Giacomo Boveri and Santa Croce 2024 from La Colombera. Pitasso also holds Bibenda's 5 Grappoli and a DoctorWine Faccino, which puts it among the most awarded Piemonte wines of 2027. From the Barolo side, Borgogno's Derthona Scaldapulce 2023 earned Tre Stelle Oro in Veronelli's 2027 guide. Our Tre Bicchieri 2027 round-up has the rest of the Piemonte list.

Or compare two bottles side by side: one from a grower in the Tortonese hills and one from a Langhe house that has come here to make its white. Then, if you can, put one away for five years. Few Piemonte whites give you the chance to watch a wine change that much.

Sources