Timorasso: The Piedmont White That Beat Extinction

Timorasso is pronounced tee-moh-RAH-so.

In 1985, this grape was down to half a hectare. One grower decided it was worth saving, and now there are roughly 500 hectares of it in the hills north of Genoa. That grower was Walter Massa, and the wine he bet on is one of the most serious whites in Italy that most drinkers have never tasted.

If you reach for Chardonnay because you want a white with weight and texture, Timorasso is the more interesting way to get there.

What it tastes like

Timorasso is dry, full-bodied, and built around acidity rather than fruit. Expect ripe pear and lemon peel up front, then a shift toward honey, almond, and a saline, crushed-stone note as the wine sits in the glass. Young bottles can read lean and citrusy; older ones turn golden and take on stone-and-honey depth. The through-line is minerality, a cold, savory streak that keeps all that body from turning heavy.

The acidity is the point. It gives the wine a spine most rich whites lack, and it is the reason Massa staked his revival on Timorasso's ability to age. This is a white you can open now or leave alone for five or ten years, and the wait usually pays.

Why it was nearly lost

Timorasso grew across the Colli Tortonesi for centuries; records go back to the 1200s. Then phylloxera, two wars, and the market's preference for easier, higher-yielding grapes pushed it aside. By the mid-1980s it was a footnote, kept alive on a sliver of land.

Massa, working in the village of Monleale, looked at what everyone else had abandoned and saw an ageworthy white hiding in a red-wine region. He replanted, bottled it under the name Derthona, and other young growers followed. The Colli Tortonesi sits in an unshowy corner of Piedmont, overshadowed by Barolo to the west, and that obscurity is exactly why the grape survived long enough to be rescued. It was too forgotten to be worth ripping out.

Bottles to look for

Vigneti Massa is the reference point, and the standard Derthona bottling is the clearest introduction to the grape from the person who saved it. Beyond Massa, look for Claudio Mariotto, Vigneti Repetto, Cascina Gentile, and Paolo Poggio, all working the same hills. La Spinetta, better known for Barbaresco, also makes a Colli Tortonesi Timorasso if you want a name you may already recognize.

Here is the honest part. Timorasso is not a bargain underdog. Bottles generally start around thirty dollars and climb from there, and there is almost no cheap entry point, so the grape asks more of you upfront than most wines we champion. US distribution is real but thin, mostly through specialist Italian importers rather than grocery shelves. And the youngest vintages can taste tight and unfinished if you open them too early, which means part of what you are buying is patience. That trade is worth making, but you should know you are making it.

Where to buy

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Timorasso turns up at well-stocked shops and Italian-focused importers in the US, though you will rarely trip over it by accident. Search by the grape name or by Derthona, and Vigneti Massa is the surest bet if you want to start with the classic.

browse Timorasso on Wine.com →

— Chris Berry

If you're switching from a famous grape

Reach for Timorasso when you want what a good white Burgundy gives you: body, texture, and a mineral backbone, without the oak and without the Meursault price. It is the textural-white swap for anyone tired of paying up for Chardonnay and getting butter instead of stone.

See Wines Like Chardonnay for the full lineup, and Order This Instead if you want the short version.

Part of Lesser-Known Wines: 17 Obscure Grapes Worth Switching To — the full underdog-swap guide.