Elisa Semino: Winemaker at La Colombera and Queen (it's not even close) of Colli Tortonesi Timorasso

Conrad Mattern, whom I have previously described as the number one Timorasso fan, places La Colombera at the apex of Colli Tortonesi Timorasso production. In his view, "Walter Massa, La Colombera, and Claudio Marrioto are the 'Triumvirate of Timorasso; that is, their wines represent the pinnacle of Timorasso production."

I recently had the honor of interviewing Elisa Semino, the estate's winemaker, via Zoom to discuss the region, the estate, the variety, the estate's wines, and the future of the foregoing. Elisa is an open and enthusiastic interview subject and I came away enriched. I report on our conversation in this post.

La Colombera History

According to Elisa, her great-grandfather came to Vho from the small town of Montemarzino in 1937. They established the La Colombera farm on Monte Colombino (not really a mountain) where they grew grapes and grain and raised chickens and animals. Her grandfather expanded the grape growing but it was left to her father -- Piercarlo -- to introduce winemaking on the farm. He ceased selling grapes and sold bulk wine to private clients who came into the fold via word-of-mouth.

Walter Massa had been talking to them about Timorasso but the first "collaboration" was La Colombera purchasing used barriques from him in 1998 to house their best Barbera grapes. The wines produced from this vintage was called Elisa and was the estate's first commercial label.

La Colombera made the decision to plant Timorasso in 1997. At that time they farmed 20 ha and grapegrowing was limited to red grapes and a little bit of Cortese. The soil is Tortonian (the origin point of the band that continues through Barolo) and, from their perspective, was best suited to red grapes. But, on the other hand, Timorasso was born in Colli Tortonesi so would probably flourish if planted in the "right" places. They set out to find the right spots in their vineyard through experimental plantings in 1997, 1998, and 2000. The first Timorasso label was the 2000 vintage. There was a subsequent Timorasso planting in 2005. The 2006 was the first vintage of the cru Il Montino.

La Colombera Today

The farm currently holds 25 ha of land and, as at its founding, continues to operate a polyculture. In addition to the vineyards, the farm grows 15 ha of grain, grows fruits, and raises animals and chickens. Grape-growing is distributed as follows:

• 15 ha in Vho. This is the traditional La Colombera home, with plantings of Timorasso, Barbera, etc. The Il Montino cru is located in this holding.
• Cascina Machetta -- planted to Barbera, for the Monleale label, and Timorasso
• Santa Croce -- a Sarezzano plot bought in 2017. Planted to 2 ha of Cortese and 3 ha of Timorasso with 3 additional ha of Timorasso coming online in 2022.

Elisa was absolutely giddy when talking about the Sarezzano property. This land sits on the hills above a limestone quarry which has been inoperative for well nigh 100 years. The deal was closed prior to completion of the soil analysis which, when completed, showed a striking similarity to the soil of Il Montino.

The Timorasso Variety

La Colombera is very happy with the variety. Timorasso is in the DNA of Colli Tortonesi: "one region, one grape." According to Elisa, people only drank red wines in the 1990s. She remembers when she was in University in Milan, Professor Scienza told her that it was very good that she was pursuing the Timorasso variety. It is cyclical, he said. People are going for red wine now but in 10 -15 years they will be pursuing a big white wine (This should be considered within the context of Professor Scienza having been in contact with Walter Massa regarding Timorasso beginning in 1992).

To Elisa, Timorasso is a great variety which makes a great, long-lived, mineral wine.

The terroir is well-suited to the variety. The soils are similar to Langhian soils but Colli Tortonesi is warmer and has less rain in the summer.

The variety has benefited from a warming environment. Thirty years ago, the farmers harvested partially ripe Barbera in the middle of October. Ripening was a problem for Timorasso in this environment. It was not warm enough; plus there was rain in the middle of October. In today's world, fully ripe Barbera is harvested in the middle of September and Timorasso is fully ripe in that same timeframe.

Viticulture

La Colombera farms organically but is not currently certified. No herbicides or pesticides have been used on the estate in the past 15 years. Grass is planted between the vineyards rows and is mowed twice per season (depending on the need). Vines are trained Guyot. 

Vineyards are cleaned at the beginning of September and are harvested by hand when the Timorasso grapes have attained a golden color.

Winemaking

Grapes from all the Timorasso vineyards are vinified and aged separately. Elisa uses seven different vineyards in Vho and Sarezzano as sources for grapes for her Derthona wine. The grapes for Il Montino comes from the Vho cru of the same name.

The grapes are neither destemmed or macerated. They are soft-pressed  and placed into stainless steel tanks for indigenous-yeast fermentations. The fermentations begin at 15℃ and end at 18℃. The wine remains on lees (with batonnage) for 9 months. The Derthona wine is blended prior to bottling to ensure uniformity.

Notes on Elisa's winemaking:

• She does not macerate because that brings in a different style of wine. She is producing a traditional Derthona
• She loves the minerality that comes with Timorasso wine. In her view, the minerality comes from the grape and the sapidity from the soil
• Her Derthona is a Timorasso classico. In the future, it is possible that they will extend beyond just the Montino cru; Santa Croce, for example, is a "fabulous place."
• It is also possible that they may use barrels in wine production in the future. The Timorasso from Santa Croce is an interesting grape and it is possible that they may use barrels on the grapes from that plot in the future. It would most likely be big barrels in order to minimize wood uptake in the wine.

La Colombera Timorasso Wines

The estate produces two Timorasso wines: Derthona and Il Montino. The Derthona is classic in that it is a blend of multiple vineyards. She expects to see honey, peaches fruit and minerality in this wine. I have previously reported on my tasting of an edition of this wine.

In the Il Montino, you get the best Timorasso vines in La Colombera. It is also the earliest Timorasso vineyard in the estate, planted as it was in 1997.

During my conversation with Elise, I tasted the 2018 vintage of this wine. A complex mix of aromas on the nose: apple, orange, tangerine, sweet fruit, minerality, limestone, sea spray, and spice. Smooth and open on the palate. Full, round mouthfeel. Sapidity, with a long, spicy finsh.

"Foreign" Producers

Famous producers are now arriving in the region. In her view, this is a sign of respect for the region; they believe in the variety and are planting it in its home region. Many of these producers are locating in Monleale, primarily because it is the home of Walter Massa, but some are branching out to communes such as Sarezzano.

The local producers have excellent relations with the newer producers who are simultaneously helping to introduce the variety to the world while helping to preserve the patrimony at home.

Elise hinted at the potential of two new Langhe producers entering in the Sarezzano commune. My attempts at drawing her out were unsuccessful.

Timorasso Vintages

I asked Elisa about past vintages that she had liked. She liked 2005 (unique because of the first use of malolactic fermentation), 2006, 2017 (full-bodied but nervous) and 2020 (preferred for its acidity).

The Future

For the region, further establishing Derthona as Timorasso from a specific place, the original home of the variety. Anyone, in any region, can plant Timorasso vines but only Colli Tortonesi producers can make Derthona wines. Key to this is the approval of the Derthona appellation. According to Elise, this will probably occur with the 2021 vintage.

Secondly, maintaining the artisanal nature of the wine and region while increasing the international profile.

For La Colombera, the future is "Timorasso, Timorasso, Timorasso." They are also in the process of building a formal tasting room. They have historically tasted wines with customers on Saturday and Sunday but more and more visitors are coming into the area, seeking to taste the wines in place. The new tasting room will seek to capitalize on, and provide the infrastructure for, these customer visits.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Ezio Poggio: The Terre di Libarna Timorasso evangelist

Ezio Poggio is the third generation of his family to farm in Val Borbera. I spoke recently via Zoom with Mary (Ezio’s sister), her daughter Eugenia, and his son Guglielmo to discuss the estate and the region.

Ezio and Mary initially worked commercially in that they sold wine that they bought from others. They initiated their Timorasso-recovery project in 2003 when they began working with local farmers and planting new vineyards. The Poggios had no relationship with Walter Massa prior to 2003 but they began talking about the characteristics of the Terre di Libarna, and the differences from Monleale, in that year.

The first harvest was booked in 2008. Ezio's ongoing work to showcase the differences between Terre di Libarna and Monleale Timorasso was rewarded with the former being awarded subzone designation in 2011.

Poggio planted mostly Timorasso in the clayey, calcareous soils of his vineyard holdings. The vines are trained single Guyot and are planted at 4000 vines per ha. The Poggio vineyard is currently under organic conversion.

It is difficult growing Timorasso due to its low production and the need to harvest it as soon as possible to avoid rot.

There are four growers in the Poggio group with all grapes processed at Ezio Poggio facilities and sold under the Ezio Poggio label. A total of 10 ha of vines are planted across grower vineyards with Poggio owning 1 ha directly.

The Wines

Grapes are hand-harvested -- generally 15 days later than in Monleale -- into small cases and transferred to the winery where four Timorasso wines are produced: two still (Archetipo and Caespes) and two sparkling (one Metodo Classico, the other, Lüsarein, is made using the Charmat method).

The still wines are soft-pressed and then placed into stainless steel tanks for fermentation with selected yeasts. There is no pre-fermentation maceration. The wine rests on lees for 12 months in the cases of Archetipo and 8 months for Caespes. The Archetipo generally comes in at 13.5 - 14% alcohol while the Caespes comes in at 13%. Bottle-aging is 6 months for Archetipo and 3 months for Caespes. According to Guglielmo, Caespes reveals fresher notes of citrus and green lime and is suitable for early drinking. Because of its longer aging, Archetipo, has more body and more evolved hydrocarbon notes to accompany the lime notes of Caespes.

The grapes for the sparkling wines are grown in vineyards at elevations ranging between 600 and 700 meters. The grapes are hand-picked into small boxes and transported to the winery where they are soft-pressed and fermented in stainless steel tanks. 

The Lüsarein is made using the Martinotti method with the wine resting on lees in 30 hL autoclaves for 6 months. This wine was first made in 2010 when all of the grapes normally used for Archetipo were re-directed for this purpose. This is a vintage sparkling wine and, according to Guglielmo, retains the freshness and taste of the Caespes still wine.

The success of Lüsarein led Ezio Poggio to release a Metodo Classico sparkling wine in 2016 following some tests in 2014. This wine rests on the lees in bottle for 24 months. 2.3 g/l of residual sugar is introduced in the dosage. According to Guglielmo, the Metodo Classico demonstrates Archetipo characteristics.

Tasting Selected Ezio Poggio Wines

I tasted the 2018 edition of Archetipo and the 2019 editions of the Lüsarein and Caespes wines.

The 2019 Lüsarein showed sweet white fruit, citrus, lees notes, and slate on the nose. Limited mousse. Bright, playful lime notes on the palate. Limited residence before proceeding quickly to a dry, abbreviated finish. Moves from sparkling to easy-drinking white wine rather quickly.

The 2019 Caespes was bright in color, with limited visual evidence of maceration. It did, however, manifest the traditional Timorasso viscosity in the glass.

Green herbs, sage, sweet white fruit, sea spray, spice, and burnt orange on the nose. Lighter of body than lower-altitude Timorassi, but still registers above the 13% alcohol on the chest. A little more elegance and less intensity of the traditional Timorasso characters. Approachable. Salinity with a cupric, turmeric finish.

The 2018 Archetipo was very aromatic. Honeyed hydrocarbons, toasted bread, sweet white fruit, and spice on the nose. Broad entry with citrus, intense spice, and drying minerality. Perfume tones with hint of sapidity, the latter of which increases with residence. Stimulative of the salivary glands. Persistent. Long, dry finish.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Ferdinando Principiano Timorasso: an Alta Langa entrant

The Colli Tortonesi Timorasso specification allows for grapes grown within the designated communes and processed anywhere within the Piedmont region. The perceived uniqueness of the wine made from Timorasso grapes grown in this area has driven producers to seek an official stamp of approval to differentiate such wines by the use of the word Derthona on the label. Ferdinando Principiano's both grows and processes Timorasso grapes outside of the Colli Tortonesi zone; the grapes are grown in his Serravalle Langhe vineyard. I discuss the producer -- and his Timorasso wine -- in this post.

Ferdinando Principiano attended Alba's Scuola Viticole Umberto-1 and graduated in 1993. Post graduation, he interned with Giacomo Conterno and Roberto Voerzio, producers at opposite ends of the traditionalist-modernist continuum. At the conclusion of his internships he joined his father at the family estate in Monforte d'Alba.

In his early winemaking career Ferdinando had his feet firmly planted in the modernist style of winemaking but is held to have made a turn to a more natural style in 2003 after observing that the bolder wines were "undrinkable with age." Today Ferdinando farms organically (uncertified) and produces "elegant natural wines."

The winery is best known for its Barolo, Barbera, and Dolcetto wines from Monforte and Serralunga but it also owns land in Serravalle Langhe (the Alta Langa DOCG region) where its Timorasso grapes are grown. The vines are planted on 1.4 ha of land at 750-m elevation and in soils composed of limestone, clay, and sand. The vines: face south, southeast, and southwest; are trained Guyot; are 10+ years of age; were planted in 2011; and are planted 4500 - 5000 vines/ha.

The grapes are fermented by wild yeasts in a process that extends from 20 to 30 days. Alcoholic and malolactic fermentation occur in stainless steel tanks. The wine is aged for 4 - 6 months in stainless steel vats and exposed to 40 - 60 mg/l sulfur and clarification prior to bottling.

This is probably a good time to compare and contrast the growing conditions and winemaking of the Principiano Timorasso to its Colli Tortonesi counterparts. From a climatic perspective, Alta Langa is not subject to the Po Valley effects of the lower Colli Tortonesi reaches or the marine influences experienced by its southern inhabitants. In terms of soils, Serravalle Langhe is similar to parts of Colli Tortonesi. At 700+ meters, the Principiano Timorasso vineyards are higher than any of the ones that I have seen to date in Alta Val Borbera.

Fernandino Principiano's Timorasso winemaking is similar to traditional Colli Tortonesi winemaking in the use of stainless steel tanks. The lower potential alcohol afforded by his early picking and the altitude makes it much easier to opt for indigenous fermentation. Like some of the Colli Tortonesi producers, Fernandino Principiano conducts malolactic fermentation after alcoholic fermentation. The major difference is in the length of aging whrein the Principiano timeframe aligns more with the Piccolo timeframe (4 - 6 months) than the Derthona timeframe (12 months).

I tasted the 2019 vintage of this wine.

A compacted, tightly wound nose with muted, honeyed white fruit, a waxiness, metallic minerality and green bark all intertwined. Austere on the palate. Taut, high-acid wine. Light-bodied with a green note. Hint of tannin on the lips and coating on the palate. No lees richness. This wine did not disabuse me of my love for Colli Tortonesi Timorasso.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

The Timorasso wines of Nebraie (Rocchetta Ligure, Colli Tortonesi, Alessandria)

Grape production in the southern reaches of Colli Tortonesi should be focused on Val Borbera rather than the larger, more amorphous Terre di Libarna, according to Andrea Tacchella of Azienda Agricola Nebraie. He laughs sheepishly as he adds "Ezio (of Ezio Poggio and the leading proponent of the Terre di Libarna subzone) does not agree with me" in this regard. 

I conversed with Andrea on this and other matters in a recent Zoom conversation and report on those discussions in this post.

Andrea Tacchella
(modification of a picture
on his Facebook page)

Prior to his entry into the wine business, Andrea was involved in sales. He left that business to pursue a Bachelor's degree in Enology and Marketing at the Catholic University in Piacenza. He was awarded the degree in 2014. During the course of his studies, he engaged in wine-related projects in Valtellina and Gavi and fell in love with all aspects of grape growing and winemaking.

Andrea's father was born in Rocchetta Ligure in Val Borbera and, upon his graduation, he decided to return there to launch his "life project." In furtherance of that goal, he bought 4 ha of land and planted Timorasso vines in 2015, 2016, and 2017. Andrea refers to 2017 as "a very black year" because they were hit by a freeze which destroyed 8500 of the young vines. This was a Colli-Tortonesi-wide freeze but was especially hard on Val Borbera. He had three weeks with hot temperatures in the early part of April and then between April 19 - 21 had temperatures of -7 degrees followed by a number of very cold days. This was a devastating blow from which he has not fully recovered. Even with some replanting he is only at 2 ha of vineyards in production today. 

The climate in this area is Mediterranean with influences from the sea. The area is subject to frequent thermic excursions during the growing season, conditions which contribute greatly to the acidity that is a hallmark of the region's grapes.

The vineyard sits at 500 m altitude where the soils are clay with limestone schist. It is farmed organically (certified) with only copper and sulfur treatments applied (between 6 and 10 treatments per year are allowed). In addition to pests and diseases, the grower has to contend with the damage that can be done by large animals such as wild boars and deer. He has built a 1-km-long metallic defense to keep such threats at bay.

Andrea tries to show respect for the ground and to maintain the life resident therein. He practices green manure, with plantings in alternate rows. All work in the vineyard is performed by hand except for mowing of the grass which is done using tractor attachments. Cutting occurs at the end of May or beginning of June.

A total of 18000 vines are planted in the 2 ha currently in production. In terms of results to date:

• 2018 yielded good quality fruit; a total of 4000 bottles were produced
• 2019 was good for quantity but the grapes were damaged by moths; 7000 bottles produced.

Andrea contracts for assistance in terms of vineyard management but does most of the cellar work on his own. He harvests by hand in late September - early October, with the pick date determined by technical analysis of acid and potential alcohol (12 - 13% preferred) levels.

Grapes are whole-bunch-pressed (in an ancient press) and placed into temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks of varying size. There is no maceration and fermentation proceeds with indigenous yeasts. The process runs for approximately 20 days.

Andrea makes three wines from these grapes: Mec L'È?, Bolle in valle, and Bertume.

Nebraie's wines (Sourced from
Andrea Tacchella's Facebook page)

Mec L'È? is dialect for What's up? He gave the wine the name after waiting over nine months for the refermentation in bottle to begin. This is a 100% Timorasso sparkling wine with refermentation facilitated by wine must. The must is conservd in refrigerated tanks until Andrea is ready to combine it with the wine for refermentation. 500 bottles of this wine are produced.

Bolle is also a wine refermented in bottle but it follows the Metodo Classico style with the second fermentation driven by added sugar and yeast. Pressure is held to between 4 and 5 atmospheres. 500 bottles

Bertume -- dialect for Saint Bartholomew -- is a classic Timorasso wine. The first vintage was bottled two years ago but the wine, in his estimation, still needs time. In the future he will only sell the classic Timorasso when it is ready for market; that is, when it displays notes of petroleum. 1500 bottles.

Nebraie falls within the official Terre di Libarna subzone but Andrea does not use that designation on his labels. He designates his wines as White Wine, Sparkling Wine, and Spumante (It should be noted that the sparkling wines produced by Nebraie do not adhere to either the Colli Tortonesi or Terre di Libarna specifications. The Colli Tortonesi regulations allow for a sparkling wine made via the Charmat method and comprised of a minimum of 95% Cortese and a maximum of 5% of other authorized non-aromatic white grapes. The designation for sparkling wines made in the Terre di Libarna sub-zone: a minimum of 60% Timorasso and a maximum of 40% of other authorized non-aromatic white grapes made via the Charmat method.).

In terms of markets, Andrea has a small deal for distribution within Italy but it is a work-in-progress for deals beyond the national border.

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Andrea considers himself a natural winemaker and Val Borbera is at the center of his philosophy; the place best-suited in all of Colli Tortonesi, given the growing conditions, for the production of sparkling wine. He will continue to expand in that space and may introduce some local varieties much further on.

Andrea feels fortunate that his dad was born in Val Borbera. It is a great place for a young person to get a start on a life project. It is a difficult place to start but it is beautiful and wild and has a lot of space for development. It is perfect for him because he likes the challenge of rebuilding an area that was organized and managed 50 to 60 years ago but had reverted to nature due to neglect.

There is a collegial and cooperative atmosphere between the winemakers in Colli Tortonesi -- and Andrea takes full advantage of that -- but because of his age and farming practices, he tends to gravitate more towards the young, organic farmers in the region.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Monlià: A Timorasso startup from La Morra giants Oddero and Osteria More e Macine

"There is gold in them thar hills." This was the sound reverberating around the Langhe hills in the decade of the 2010s. And it was emanating from the lips of Langhe producers. And they were not talking about the Langhe hills. Rather, they were talking about the Tortonesi hills. And the gold was white: Timorasso white.

I have previously catalogued the Langhe entrants into the Colli Tortonesi Timorasso space and provided the rationale behind the surge. In this post I detail one of the newest entrants: Monlià, a partnership between the La Morra entities Oddero and Osteria More e Macine.

The Partners

International Wine Report describes Oddero thusly:

Nestled in the Langhe hills, Oddero brings a long tradition of family winemaking ... Today the legacy of Giacomo Oddero lives on through his daughter Mariacristina, who entered the family business near the end of the 1990s, and grandchildren Isabella and Pietro.

Oddero dedicates its full attention to the winemaking process, blending ancient wisdom and modern production techniques with patience and tenacity, from the pruning of the vines to the pressing of the grapes, up to the aging of selected vintages. The vines grow in some of the best and sunniest sites (known as sôri) on the hills in the Barolo and Barbaresco zones and beyond.

Tom Hyland, writing in Forbes, describes More e Macine as offering "a wide variety of traditional plates, with extremely fair pricing, along with an outstanding wine selection, with several selections by the glass. Piemontegirl concurs: "Ito and his crew will serve you good food and wine in a fantastic atmosphere. If you look around, it is almost guaranteed one of the winemakers in the area will sit at one of the tables, drinking coffee or wine, chatting with their friends."

Isabella and Pietro manage the Oddero interests in this project.

The Project

The project was jump-started in an Autumn 2017 mealtime discussion at the tavern. As has been the case for most of the new entrants into this market, the advice and counsel of Walter Massa was sought out during the formative stages of the project.

The foundation of the effort was the purchase of a 1.45 ha eastern-facing plot in Monleale. This 450m-elevation site has very fine calcareous clay soil with some limestone presence.

The freshly planted vineyard would not yield fruit for some time but the team wanted to begin honing its processes and practices and so bought fruit for an initial vintage.

Monlià 2019 Derthona Colli Tortonesi Timorasso

As has been the case for a number of the new entrants, Monlià did not adhere to the traditional Timorasso production process. Rather, it blended Oddero winemaking practices with traditional methods to come up with the final product.

The grapes were pressed and then racked off the gross lees. Fermentation was 30% in stainless steel tanks and 70% in 2500 l Austrian oak barrels. There was no malolactic fermentation. The wines remained on lees — with batonnage — for one year and were blended one month prior to bottling. 

The nose is aromatic, flavorful, and full of promise with notes of sweet white fruit, honeycomb, sea spray, herbs, and pepper. Complexity and elegance. The wine still has a ways to go in order to deliver the promise of the nose on the palate. Broad-based and relatively approachable. Lime skin with a pepper spice finish. Less structure, salinity, and minerality than some of the wines I have encountered to date. It will be interesting to follow its development path.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Ceramic-vessel-use in post-modern Timorasso production: Ricci, Vietti, I Carpini, and Sassaia

Post-modern Timorasso production expanded beyond the traditional stainless steel fermentation/aging vessels to include materials such as oak (barrique and cask), ceramics, concrete, etc. I have covered oak use by Martinetti and Sassaia and will explore ceramic implementations in this post.

Daniele Ricci

The first instance of amphora use that I explore is from the organic Costa Vescovato farmer Daniele Ricci who crafts four Timorasso wines from calcareous clay marl vineyards planted in 1986, 1989, 1992, and 1996. His traditional production method is fermentation in stainless steel followed by elevage in stainless steel or untreated oak or acacia barrels. In the case of his Io Camino Da Solo wine, however, the grapes are macerated for 100 days in amphora before transfer to untoasted oak barrels for 12 months aging.

Vietti

Luca and Elena Currado detailed their Timorasso production process during a Zoom Master Class with Brian Larky of Dalla Terra Winery Direct. According to Luca, because Timorasso is a white variety, everyone thinks that it needs to be protected from oxygen. On the contrary, he says. Timorasso is a variety that needs oxygen. Further, it has a lot of phenolics in the skin but likes some skin contact.

Vietti, according to Luca, had completed three experimental vintages prior to its initial release on the market. The first experiment withheld oxygen from the wine; and the result was "stinky." This led him to conclude that some oxygen exposure was required. He did not want to use barriques because he did not want the oak transfer that came with that. He settled, instead, for a mix of large casks and ceramic eggs, with the eggs providing the same amount of oxygen transfer without material impediment.

In Timorasso production, the lees need to remain suspended in the solution in order to limit reduction. Fluid movement within the egg effectuates lees-stirring.

Luca sees two styles of winemaking within the Colli Tortonesi region: on the one hand, fresh, brilliant, vertical wines and, on the other, high-skin-contact phenolic wines. Vietti's aim is to make a wine that is somewhere in the middle.

Clayver Vessels

I Carpini and Sassaia both use Clayver ceramic vessels in their wine production. The Clayver is a stoneware round egg that was inspired by clay amphorae and produced for the first time in 2014.

Clayver ceramic vessels (Source: clayver.it)

The round shape (in addition to being esthetically pleasing):

• Keeps the grape cap moist during fermentation
• Generates convective movements which reshuffle the fine lees
• Renders it "resistant, isolating, and easy to sterilize."

In addition, the wall thickness "generates thermal inertia and a uniform oxygen exchange." There is no material transfer into the wine.

I Carpini

I Carpini is an organic farm producing Timorasso dry and sparkling wines from grapes grown in the Pozzol Groppo commune. Its Timox is an orange wine which was initially made in small amphorae beginning in 2011. The winery purchased seven Clayvers in 2015. 

The grapes for the Timox wine macerate for 15 days. Fermentation initiates spontaneously while the grapes are housed in an open tank. Post-fermentation the wine is transferred to the Clayver vessels for 12 months aging on the lees.

Sassaia

Enrico de Alessandrini of Sassaia first learned of the Clayver Technology in 2017 and became enamored. After further research, he eventually employed the technology in the 2018 trials for fermentation of whites and aging of reds. He sees the advantages of the technology as :

• Consistent porosity
• Ease of sanitation
• Easier batonnage.

Sassaia expects to use the technology for both fermentation and aging going forward. It will be used, particularly, as part of the neutral regime in the production of the Derthona Riserva.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme