(Claude Auguste / Photo: Massa)
Piedmont has no shortage of famous wines and grape varieties: Barolo, Barbaresco, Nebbiolo – big names, high prices, wineries both large and small, and an international clientele that has learnt over the decades that this region produces some of Europe’s most prestigious red wines. It is precisely there that something is currently happening which could prove far more interesting for the future of viticulture than the next 100-point bottle: A white grape variety that had almost died out is suddenly being planted, bought, sold at a premium and discovered by winegrowers whose business has, until now, relied primarily on great red wines.
It is called Timorasso.
Forty years ago, there wasn’t a single commercial bottling of it. Today, there are more than 500 hectares in Piedmont, 117 producers are making Timorasso, top wines cost more than 80 euros, further vineyards are just coming into production, and around two million bottles are already expected by 2027. That in itself is not yet a revolution in the wine market. The story only becomes interesting when one looks at where this variety comes from and who is now investing in it.
Timorasso was already widespread in Piedmont in the 14th century; Leonardo da Vinci is said to have served it at the wedding of Isabella of Aragon in 1469, and at times there were around 2,000 hectares of the variety in the region. Then came phylloxera and economic pressures. Timorasso is difficult to cultivate in the vineyard, labour-intensive, yields unpredictable harvests and, following the phylloxera disaster, was simply too much of a hassle to replant on a large scale. Even the Colli Tortonesi DOC, established in 1973, did not mention it at all initially.
The fact that we are even talking about Timorasso today is largely down to Walter Massa. By the end of the 1980s, he still owned around 400 scattered vines and bottled a wine from them for the first time in 1987. It did not make much of an impression at first. However, a few years’ ageing in the bottle transformed it to such an extent that Massa began searching for old vines, collecting vine cuttings and persuading neighbours to replant. This was no romantic hobby. Timorasso meant about three times as much work for a fraction of the yield of other varieties. Without correspondingly high prices, the venture was not viable. By 2003, just 60 hectares had been planted. Then progress stagnated.
Today, the situation is different, and this is precisely where Timorasso is becoming of interest to the entire European wine world. This is because producers from the Barolo sector have now entered the market. Roagna produces Timorasso, as does Borgogno; Vietti, Pio Cesare, La Spinetta and Viberti are also involved. With them came capital, international distribution and a clientele willing to spend a considerable amount of money on a white wine made from a variety that was, until recently, almost unknown. The name Derthona, the Latin term for Tortona, has become the collective term for these ambitious Timorasso wines. An old grape variety has been given a new economic lease of life.
This is something worth taking a closer look at, especially now.
Over the past few days, we have published anonymous sales figures on WINEPARTY suggesting that red wine sales at a major online retailer are said to have slumped by 46 per cent in the first half of 2026. We are still unable to independently verify these figures – our enquiries have gone unanswered. However, hardly anyone disputes that red wine is facing difficulties in the retail sector. Europe’s major red wine regions will therefore, sooner or later, have to consider how they can generate additional revenue in future.
Italy offers one possible answer: white wine. And, of all things, old, regional varieties.
For the new generation of wine drinkers seems by no means to be looking solely for new products. They are also seeking provenance, rare grape varieties and stories that weren’t just invented yesterday by a marketing agency and its AI. Timorasso has plenty of these. Added to this is a flavour profile that fits surprisingly well with the present day. Young Derthona wines can be salty, taut, floral or characterised by stone fruit, with some initially being decidedly reductive. After a few years, they develop notes of hay, hazelnut, acacia, beeswax, ginger, fennel and turmeric. The variety has substance and considerable ageing potential. This is a white wine for people who want to discover wine without sacrificing depth.
There could be far more to this than just a Piedmontese success story. Europe’s famous red wine regions sit on a cultural treasure that they have, in part, forgotten themselves. Old white grape varieties were grubbed up, abandoned or confined to tiny plots because, for decades, it was easier to make money with the big red names. Now the market is changing, and suddenly these very forgotten varieties may well become interesting again.
That doesn’t mean that Nebbiolo should be grubbed up in Barolo tomorrow to make way for Timorasso. But it does mean that a wine region is acting rather unwise economically if it ties its future exclusively to a wine category whose sales are currently under considerable pressure. White wine is on the rise, lighter-style wines are gaining ground, and curiosity about indigenous varieties is growing. And a wine with a centuries-old history doesn’t need to invent its origins from scratch.
Young wine drinkers do not need to be enticed with a constant stream of new, fanciful blends, colourful labels and artificially invented categories. You can also offer them a grape variety that Leonardo da Vinci knew, which was almost forgotten for a hundred years and which today once again produces outstanding wines. You can tell them why people like Walter Massa stuck with it for decades, even though there was hardly any money to be made from it at first. And you can pour them a wine that then does the rest all by itself.