RICCI - SAN LETO

Piedmont - Timorasso Colli Tortona Doc

http://www.aziendaagricolaricci.com/ 

Close to Gavi in the extreme south-easterly reaches of Piedmont...where the Alpine hills meet the Appennine hills to separate Piedmont and Lombardy from Liguria...one of Italy's finest native white varieties thrives since always and is now experiencing a powerful revival. Timorasso is a late-ripening, thin-skinned white cultivar indigenous of the Tortonesi Hills in south-eastern Piedmont: at risk of extinction only 20 years ago, Timorasso was fortunately rescued and replanted by a bunch of tenacious and passionate growers (Walter Massa, Claudio Mariotto, Daniele Ricci), and it is today widely regarded as one of Italy's finest and longest-lived white wines. 

   

Timorasso could be best described as 'the Chenin Blanc' of Italy, due to its yielding full-bodied, medium-to-high-alcohol white wines that easily hold and improve for 10 / 15 years, developing a rich, warming bouquet of honey, tropical fruit, roasted hazelnut and gunflint. 

  

An early believer in the great potential of Timorasso, Daniele Ricci is a third generation grape grower. His family estate span over 8 Ha in Costa Vescovato, at 300 mts above sea level (one of the highest altitude vine-sites for Timorasso in the whole Colli Tortonesi Doc appellation). The terroir is composed of pure white tufaceous / chalky marls, just the ideal soil for Timorasso to express its full aromatic potential. Daniele Ricci is a self-taught, self-styled and quite extreme winemaker...in that he pursues an all-natural vinification protocol including ambient yeasts fermentation, a 2/3 weeks maceration on the skins, ageing in Acacia wood barrels, no filtration and no fining. Total sulfites never exceeds 60 mg/lt. 

Give this heirloom, unheard-of Italian white variety a chance and you'll be rewarded. Ricci Timorasso will surprise and please your sense with its warm complexity, sharp detail and nervy mouthfeel. Comparisons with Valentini Trebbiano or Gravner Ribolla Gialla might not be out of place for this unconventional yet fascinating all-native and all-natural Piedmontese white wine. 

 

 

Wines

Colli Tortonesi Timorasso Doc


Colli Tortonesi Timorasso 'San Leto' Doc