Italian wine and grape guide : Timorasso

The Timorasso grape is considered native of the Tortona area. It entered the region during the Middle Ages, and over the centuries has become the most widely grown grape variety of the area, until the advent of phylloxera and the Second World War. Years of progressive abandonment of the countryside followed and reduction of the area under vine Timorasso to benefit of easier and more productive varieties. In recent years, a group of sensible winemakers has carried on the rediscovery of this vine and brought to light its oenological characteristics, which allow production of wines of great structure and freshness, as a betoken to an interesting tendency to aging and to aging in barrels, often yielding the results of all great quality. Its berry is white, medium-large, spheroid with thick, solid, waxy skin of yellowish-green color. The bunch is medium or medium-large, pyramidal, often three-winged, medium compact or compact with a medium, pentagonal three-lobed or five-lobed leaf. Timorasso vine has high vigor and vintage mid-early maturing. Productivity is discreet and constant. The Timorasso grape gives a straw yellow colored wine with golden highlights. The scent is intense and complex, floral and fruity with notes of acacia and hawthorn, peach, honey and tropical fruits. The taste is full-bodied, dry, fresh because of its acidity, with good alcohol content, fine and harmonious.