Textural weight, acid drive, and aging capacity. The Rome tasting of Derthona on Tour reveals the multifaceted identity of an appellation at technical maturity: ten bottlings mapping the contemporary geography of Derthona Timorasso 2024 and decoding the rigor of the vintage.
The Rome stop of Derthona on Tour 2026 at WEGil—organized by the Consorzio Tutela Vini Colli Tortonesi in partnership with Vinòforum—captures an appellation in full command of its craft.
Backed by a consolidation path set firmly on reaching 3.5 million bottles by 2027, the Tortona district proved its technical resilience against the challenging 2024 growing season. Relentless rain from February through mid-July, paired with high humidity and unseasonal heat, demanded swift vineyard interventions and severely reduced yields across several parcels.
Even under extreme weather pressure, Timorasso showed unmistakable mettle. Rigorous viticulture and precise cellar decisions turned a fraught season into an exercise in stylistic precision, yielding vertical, razor-sharp wines. The vintage confirms the grape’s core identity: a white built with the structural frame of an age-worthy red, driven by bracing acidity, a distinct saline core, and remarkable longevity.
While cohesive, the appellation’s profile shifts noticeably with altitude, marl composition, and cellar regimen. The first five expressions of the 2024 vintage chart the contemporary map of Derthona, stretching from Alto Monferrato to the traditonal ridges of Monleale, Costa Vescovato, and Montemarzino. Part two of our report will examine five additional interpretations of the vintage.
Derthona Timorasso 2024: The First Five Expressions
Sassaia – De Alessandrini
Derthona Colli Tortonesi Doc – Timorasso 2024
Boveri Luigi
Derthona Colli Tortonesi Doc – Timorasso 2024 (Filari di Timorasso)
Vigneti Letizia
Derthona Colli Tortonesi Doc – Timorasso “Stappasogni” 2024
Vigneti Massa
Derthona Colli Tortonesi Doc – Timorasso “Costa del Vento” 2024
Davico Stefano Wines
Derthona Colli Tortonesi Doc – Timorasso “Regina” 2024
Sassaia – De Alessandrini | Derthona Colli Tortonesi Doc – Timorasso 2024
Terroir and Winery. In Capriata d’Orba, among the hills of Alto Monferrato, UC Davis-trained winemaker Enrico de Alessandrini—drawing on Ligurian-Piedmontese roots—and his wife Ellen pair precision viticulture with a Burgundian sensibility. Consulting on the project is Pierre Naigeon, the respected Gevrey-Chambertin vigneron known for a purist approach and mastery of micro-vinification.
Certified under Italy’s SQNPI sustainable framework, the twenty-hectare estate sits atop an ancient seabed—hence the name Sassaia (“rocky bed”). High-skeleton, mineral-rich soils impart structural depth and a pronounced saline spine to both native and international varieties (Timorasso, Dolcetto, Nebbiolo, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay). Leading the portfolio is Derthona Platinum, the flagship cru consistently praised by critics as one of Piedmont’s benchmark whites.
Sourced from the Vigna Monleale parcel, the Derthona Colli Tortonesi Doc Timorasso 2024 shows a taut, vertical profile. Satellite-mapped and hand-harvested at dawn into 6-kg crates to keep the skins intact, the grapes are immediately chilled to 5 °C to lock in primary aromatics. Vinification involves gentle whole-cluster pressing, native-yeast fermentation, and nine months of aging in neutral Chassin French oak barriques to integrate oak influence with restraint. Racking follows the lunar calendar, clarifying the wine naturally without fining agents to preserve both structural integrity and aging potential.
Tasting Notes. Brilliant straw yellow with subtle golden hues introduces a shifting, multi-layered nose. Opening notes of honey, white flowers, and white peach quickly give way to dried fruit, spice, eucalyptus, and a deep iodine undertone. Tense acidity drives a gripped, remarkably persistent palate, pointing to serious cellar longevity.
Boveri Luigi | Derthona Colli Tortonesi Doc – Timorasso 2024
Terroir and Winery. Based in Montale Celli, a hamlet of Costa Vescovato, the estate led by Luigi Boveri and Germana Ciccotti—alongside their children Francesco (the winemaker), Matteo, and Sara—is a cornerstone of the appellation’s revival. Founded in 1987 with a first bottling in 1992, the winery produces roughly 80,000 bottles annually for domestic and export markets. Leading the line is the Derthona Filari di Timorasso, a benchmark of territorial fidelity awarded Tre Bicchieri by Gambero Rosso and Cinque Grappoli by Bibenda.
Twenty-eight hectares of vines span several parcels across Costa Vescovato and neighboring municipalities. Across the 18 hectares planted to red varieties (Barbera for the Boccanera and Poggio delle Amarene crus, plus Croatina and Bonarda), clay-limestone soils build density and frame. Meanwhile, 10 hectares of white grapes (Timorasso, Cortese, and Moscato) root in calcareous marl—prime ground for generating sapidity and longevity.
Guided by the conviction that wine is made in the vineyard, Luigi Boveri relies on strict, low-intervention practices: once pristine fruit reaches the cellar, winemaking simply channels its character. The technical protocol skips skin contact and cryo-maceration altogether, favoring straightforward white vinification followed by slow bâtonnage on the fine lees and bottling nearly twelve months post-harvest.
Tasting Notes. Intense, brilliant straw yellow destined to deepen into gold with bottle age. Fresh and composed on the nose, layering peach and bergamot over culinary herbs and a distinct briny, mineral streak. Broad, structured, and lingering on the palate, anchored by pinpoint acidity. Best served at 12 °C in medium-bowled stems.
Vigneti Letizia | Derthona Colli Tortonesi Doc – Timorasso “Stappasogni” 2024
Terroir and Winery. Bridging Oltrepò Pavese and Piedmont, Aldo Dallavalle’s trajectory began early under the guidance of his grandfather and uncle. He founded the Finigeto estate in 2005 at just nineteen, opening his first cellar in 2012. Drawn to the Tortona hills, Dallavalle acquired parcels in Monleale in 2023—encouraged by local pioneers like Walter Massa—to establish Vigneti Letizia.
Forty-seven hectares now span the two zones, a duality captured in the winery’s logo of two interlocking triangles framing a grape seed, uniting distinct yet complementary terroirs. Situated at the crossroads of Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia, and Liguria, Tortona’s clay-marl soils lend the wines vivid sapidity and natural longevity. Labels like Piccolo Derthona and Monleale Carpe Diem explore these hills, anchored by the estate’s flagship: Derthona Timorasso Stappasogni.
Roughly 7,000 bottles come from northeast-facing parcels at 300 meters in Monleale. Following a brief cold skin maceration to extract aromatics, the wine ferments in stainless steel and rests twelve months on the fine lees before bottle aging. Vineyard management follows the sustainable “Love Nature” protocol, while winemaker Marco Terzoni handles the fruit with technical precision and varietal respect. The goal is straightforward: crafting wines faithful to nature that capture each vintage’s complexity while delivering immediacy, drinkability, and clean lines.
Tasting Notes. Limpid, brilliant straw yellow. Complex on the nose, leading with varietal flint and petrol notes woven into yellow plum, white peach, bergamot, hawthorn, exotic fruit, white blossoms, and botanical herbs. Dynamic, clean, and seamless on the palate. A supple texture meets a burst of citrus-driven acidity and a pronounced saline cut. Long, taut, and persistent on the finish, trailing notes of wild fennel, chamomile, green tea, licorice, and almond. A pedigreed, paced, and deep Timorasso built to evolve.
Vigneti Massa | Derthona Colli Tortonesi Doc – Timorasso “Costa del Vento” 2024
Terroir and Winery. On the marl ridges of Monleale, Vigneti Massa is synonymous with the rescue and rise of Timorasso. Continuing a family farming tradition dating to 1879, Walter Massa rewrote the region’s playbook in the 1980s. Betting on a native grape then facing extinction, he proved Timorasso could deliver monumental structure and unexpected longevity.
Today’s production revolves around strict parcel selection. Alongside the benchmark Derthona village bottling, single-vineyard crus like Sterpi and Montecitorio articulate specific soil profiles, culminating in Costa del Vento. Sourced from a single wind-swept parcel of clay-limestone soil, the wine follows a rigorous, low-intervention artisanal regimen: roughly forty hours of cold skin contact precede spontaneous fermentation on native yeasts and twelve months of stainless-steel aging on the fine lees with regular bâtonnage.
Tasting Notes. Luminous, dense golden yellow in the glass, signaling structural weight and extract. Generous and layered on the nose, opening with fleshy apple, peach, and ripe apricot backed by royal jelly, roasted hazelnut, and crisp Mediterranean scrub.
Powerful and driving on the palate, where a warm, broad entry stretches into a measured, lengthy stride. Marked sapidity and mineral grip—the signature of Monleale’s clay-marl soils—counterbalance the wine’s weight, leaving a clean, lingering finish of dried chamomile.
Davico Stefano Wines | Derthona Colli Tortonesi Doc – Timorasso “Regina” 2024
Terroir and Winery. Farming since the early 1800s, the Davico Stefano estate sits in Montemarzino, a hillside crossroads between Monleale and Val Curone. Straddling the 45th parallel—a historic latitude for fine wine—the family maintains a strictly artisanal operation. Stefano Davico leads the estate, drawing on more than sixty harvests of firsthand experience. Four hectares of vines at 400 meters sit on calcareous-marl and clay soils rich in rock fragments and minerals, a geological foundation that builds natural longevity into the wines.
Backed by herbicide-free farming focused on biodiversity and minimal cellar intervention, micro-production bottlings deliver a faithful reading of the Tortona terroir. The purest expression of this approach is Timorasso Regina, a stripped-back, precise take on the variety. Temperature-controlled fermentation in stainless steel preserves primary aromatics, while roughly twelve months on native lees in steel prior to bottle aging buffers the wine’s vibrant acidity and secures its aging trajectory.
Tasting Notes. Crystalline and luminous in the glass. Refined on the nose, weaving acacia blossom and violet with bright citrus and crisp orchard fruit. Poised and linear on the palate: clean, bright, and finely etched, avoiding any excess weight. Graceful and understated, balancing Timorasso’s natural frame with a fresh, slender profile that invites another sip and finishes with quiet precision.
By Alessandra Fiori
Featured image: Zoltan Szarvas via Pixabay
Bottle photography: Courtesy of Sassaia, Boveri Luigi, Vigneti Letizia, Vigneti Massa, Davico Stefano Wines