2015 Terre di Sarrizola Colli Tortonesi Rosso "Gambarasca"
- Barberas Have Amazing Fruit and Spice
- But They Are a Bit Linear
- Merlot Adds Mouthfeel, Lushness / Lusciousness and Structure
- Changes This From a Delicious Drink to Something Quite Serious
- But the Price Is Still Ridiculously Low
- I Gave a 9.4 on Delectable - More a $40-$50 Wine Even for Us
- As Serious as Red Wine Gets Under $50
- Like an Italian Take on Gripa
- Nose: Amazingly Pure and Explosive
- Incensey / Herbal / Berry Consommé
- Superbly Mineral
- Palate: A Freak Show
- Depth, Concentration and Breeding of a Much More Expensive Wine
- Only Made in Top Vintages
2018 Terre di Sarrizola Colli Tortonesi Timorasso "Biancornetto"
- The Salvador Dali of Timorasso
- Almost a Sureral Wine
- Italy's Answer to Chablis
- Nose: Superbly Focused
- Lemons, Lemon Oil, Lemon Rind
- Tropical Flowers
- Provençal Herbs and Spices
- Palate: Gorgeous Richness
- Terrific Mouthfeel and Texture
- Great Minerals
- Juicy but Tempered Acids
- Elegant, Juicy, Spicy and Pithy
- Elite Precision
- Lithe Juiciness on the Finish
- Drinking Well Now, Will Be Better in 5 Years
- My Partner and I Both Gave the 2017 a 9.4
- Only Made in Top Vintages
- Timorasso Is the Darlings of Italian Michelin Star Somms
This has got to be one of the most epic Perfect Storm of value offers we've ever done.
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No one has really heard of this region or this winery. And the winery focused on selling their wines and not on maximizing price at this point. So this offer is a crazy, crazy steal.
What is the Colli Tortonesi?
This refers to wines made from red and white grapes amongst the hills of Tortona. It's actually one of the older Piedmont DOCs and was created in 1973 just before the more famous and prestigious Gavi appellation. This is as East as Piedmont gets and shares a border with Lombardy. The main red grape is Barbera. The main white is the eponymous Cortese which I like but don't love and vastly prefer the great Timorasso which is gaining in popularity and I think is much more interesting and ageworthy than Cortese's highest expression in Gavi. Timorasso is like Italy's answer to Chablis but with its own unique twist. The minerality in Timorasso whites is remarkable as is the structure. They are known to age for a decade at least and in many cases much longer.
The Wines
But today's first wine is not the Timorasso, which comes 2nd but to be honest both of these are "1st wines." The red is one of the greatest values I've ever tasted. It is remarkable and represents elite QPR in my opinion. That is why I am offering a case price. The wine is the 2015 Terre di Sarrizola Colli Tortonesi Rosso "Gambarasca" for $21.99 a bottle on a 4-pack and $19.99 on a 12 bottle case.
This is NOT a knockback easygoing Tuesday night pizza red. I've sold plenty of Barbera, Dolcetto and Langhe Nebbiolo that is. They are perfectly delicious wines and I love them. This is in another league. It's as serious as red wine gets under $50. I didn't know the price and just laughed when I found out yesterday. Italy has always been a sea of values but you got to kiss a lot of frogs on that journey. The division is starker now with the tariffs between the value of France and the value of Italy. This wine is a preposterous value. It's 70% Barbera and 30% Merlot. It's only made in the best vintages. 2015 and maybe 2019. But this 2015 is in the zone and will go many years. Another decade at least. This needs a minimum of two hours of air to really start to strut its stuff.
Starts off with a big grapey nose. Lovely berry fruit and big minerals. As it airs it opens and the aromas become really intriguing and expansive. Lovely core of minerals and soil tones. Really nice. In a great spot aromatically. Really in your face gutsy minerals. After air, nose is incensey/herbal/berry consommé and superbly mineral. Balanced, pure and very fresh. Just amazingly pure and explosive.
Palate is soft and lush with very nice sweet fruit. Big but ripe and suave tannins. Concentrated and structured, this has real lift and energy. Complex and seems like it will age a decade more. Terrific wine. After air mega improvement. 9.3 to 9.4. A freak show now with mega concentrated fruit and long. Super. Mineral. Like Mauves St. Jo. Like an Italian take on Gripa. This is too good to be true at $21.99. I could and was prepared to sell for $35-$37 as I assumed my cost would be much higher. The wine has the power, depth, concentration and breeding of a much more expensive wine. Because this is from a no name area it's this inexpensive. Reminds me of some of those Elio Altare Barbera blends that go for $65+. Larigi in particular comes to mind. I can heartily recommend a case purchase for this.
Next up is the utterly amazing white from Terre di Sarrizola, the 2018 Colli Tortonesi Timorasso Derthrona "Biancornetto" for $34.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. This is from a single vineyard called Biancornetto and it means white horn. It's on top of limestone. This also is only made in the best vintages.
Timorasso is the next big thing in Italian white wines. They are the darlings of all of the Italian Michelin star somms and everyone is saying that they have the potential to produce some of the best white wines in Italy.
So why has no one heard of them?
Until recently, they were a grape used in field blends and almost lost to history. This winemaker named Walter Massa brought the grape back from the dead and starting selling it as a varietal. Now the big boys like Vietti are starting to bottle Timorasso. It's arrived in a big way. This wine is the Salvador Dali to Walter Massa's Velasquez (I'm keeping the painters both Spanish for some reason). It's almost a sureral wine.
Nose is lemons, lemon oil, Meyer Lemon. This psychotic swirl of tropical flowers. Also Provençal herbs and spices. It got much better with air. Lemon rind, lemon peel. Mineral. Also hints of game? This is wild. Superbly focused. As it aerates the confectionery aromas are just superb.
Palate is juicy, mouth filling and clean. Very pure and clean. Flavors of sweet lemon, and an awesome elegant texture. Really terrific mouthfeel and texture. Very good if not elite acids but the freshness is from the minerals and the juicy but tempered acids. Lush. Elegant, juicy, spicy and pithy. Really energetic and the flavors are so so unique. Bright and lifted. Long.
Finishes also with a lovely note of bitterness. This is great. This really needs I think 5-6 years to show even better. Over two days it had glimpses of its true greatness but I think the best is yet to come. In a rare reversal drink the red and cellar the white.
2015 Terre di Sarrizola Colli Tortonesi Rosso "Gambarasca" - $23.99 ($87.96 4-Pack, $239.88 12 bottle case {$19.99!})
2018 Terre di Sarrizola Colli Tortonesi Timorasso - $36.99
($139.96 4-Pack)
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