Between Gavi and Timorasso

Rocca di Gavi, the fortress, hanging on the hill as if it had always been there, was the proud beginning of the GOTour, a day trip discovering three different wine regions, just over an hour from Milan. The complete group, however, which included some twenty enthusiasts who answered Federico Malgarini’s invitation, only met in the barnyard of La Bella Alleanza, a building which once witnessed the signing of an important treaty during the Napoleonic Wars, and which today witnesses the hard work the three Rosina sisters, owners of La Mesma, dedicate to their vineyard and cellar. What was the common denominator of the day? An unrestrained curiosity towards wine and Davide Ferrarese, the agronomist of all the wineries visited. Even without an organic certification, he treats the vineyard and the soil with a respect which doesn’t burn off on the labels, but proudly moves across the rows of vines.

La Mesma is a hard-working, family run winery with the objective of bringing back Gavi, a wine produced with 100% Cortese grapes, to its ancient splendour, when it was Piedmont’s top white wine. In the shadow of a beautiful mulberry tree, we tasted floral and elegant Gavi Docg La Mesma Etichetta Gialla 2012 and Gavi Riserva Etichetta Nera, with scents of apple peel and a stronger sapidity in the finish. An experimental bottle followed, which was label-less and was the fruit of one hectare of organic vineyard. It’s still a little too syrupy but has the potential of a great white wine, if it were to increase its acidity.

When the carousel of cars left again, we arrived at Cascina Tollu, +39.0143.873430, in Rocca Grimalda, in the area of Ovada. This winery, together with Forti del Vento, is owned by Tomaso Armento and Marco Tacchino, the first being a communication-superman, the second a vineyard-Viking. Walking between the rows of vines, discovering green manure – a cultivation used to prepare the soil before implanting a vineyard, or in order to give extra energy to a soil in which the vines already grow – noticing the first flowers on the grapes, added substance to a great passion.

At lunchtime, we stopped in the centre of Ovada. Host Giuseppe Martelli, owner of Quartino di vino made us feel at home – he’s creative hospitality and Champagne enthusiast. The veal with tuna sauce, served with a pie of Russian salad and the roll filled with robiola cheese on a cream of peas were respectively matched with a Magnum bottle of La Mesma Metodo Classico and a bottle of Timorasso Derthona 2009 produced by La Colombera. The red ravioli with Dolcetto, filled with spinach, were perfectly matched with Forti del Vento’s Dolcetto Ottotori. The meat and roasted potatoes were finely paired with Forti del Vento’s Altaguardia 2010, made with Albarossa grapes, while the amaretto and chocolate used for the bonet, served as dessert, let their light shine thanks to the match with Venti Passi made with Nibiö grapes, an indigenous grape variety which almost disappeared due to its low yield.

For our last stop, we arrived in the area of the hills of Tortona (Colli Tortonesi), and to be precise in Vho, the location ofLa Colombera, owned by the Semino family since 1937. For years, this agricultural and wine estate has been valorising Timorasso, an indigenous grape variety. With a compact bunch and a very thin skin, Timorasso is a variety that requires lost of attention. If you take care of it, it will respond with a great performance. La Colombera produces two Timorasso, Derthona and Montino. Of the latter we tasted the still “silent” 2011, the floral and delicate 2010, the salty 2009 and the round and with very defined fruit notes 2008, though it was a little less persistent, on the palate, than the 2009.