Wine & Spirits - December 2019 - 71

273741

90 | Veuve Clicquot

$49

Champagne Yellow Label Brut (Best Buy) ^
Brisk lemon-lime flavors and floral apple
clarity lend this wine its freshness and mineral-tinged refreshment. It smells like chalk,
then the flavors are enriched by toasty brioche and spiciness from the lees aging. Simple and saturated, finely made in a grandmarque style.

VOLLEREAUX
Négociant-Manipulant in Pierry (Vallée de
la Marne); founded 1805; owns 100 acres:
50% chardonnay, 30% pinot noir, 20% pinot
meunier; average vine age: 25 years; oldest:
60 years. Cellarmaster/Vigneron: Frank Vollereaux; 41,650 cases produced. Imported by
Palm Bay Int'l, Port Washington, NY

274258

91 | Vollereaux

$55

Champagne Brut Rosé de Saignée (Best
Buy) ^ Structured like a red wine, with flavor
of macerated cherries, Cara Cara oranges
and sea salt, this wine's meaty structure carries some tannins, targeting it for dinner,
whether it's grilled pork or a Tuscan-style
grilled steak with herbs.

Our blind panels tasted 17 new-release timorasso wines for this issue. Our critic for Italian
wines, Stephanie Johnson, rated 12 as exceptional (90+) and 4 as Best Buys. Find a
complete list of wines tasted and all reviews at wineandspiritsmagazine.com.
274525

93 | La Colombera

$120

2011 Champagne Cuvée Marguerite Brut ^
Luscious and rich in its up-front flavors of
apple, ginger and baked yellow plums, this
is a muscular wine that dives into its austere
structure in the end. An interesting result
from a challenging vintage, this needs a year
in bottle to meld. n

$45

2016 Colli Tortonesi Timorasso Il Montino ^ Elisa Semino was an early believer in
timorasso, writing her oenology school dissertation on the variety and planting five
different biotypes at her family estate in the
late 1990s. She now farms 12 acres of timorasso and bottles two versions, this one from
the Il Montino cru, where she finds that the
limestone-rich soils deliver an extra boost
of acidity to the wine. She calls 2016 "an
incredible vintage, warm but balanced," and
our panelists agreed. Like many timorassos,
it's reticent at first, with a chewy, honeyed
texture and subtle stone-fruit flavors that
begin to flesh out after a few hours of air. By
the second day open, it blossoms into notes
of chamomile and green apple, peach and
lemon curd. § Oliver McCrum Wines, Napa, CA
274526

93 | Vigne Marina Coppi

$44

2013 Colli Tortonesi Timorasso Fausto ^
Francesco Bellocchio purchased 11 acres near
the village of Castellania in 2003 and bottled
his first wines five years later. He makes just
over 2,000 cases of wine a year, including this
delicious timorasso named for his grandfather, Fausto Coppi, a legendary cyclist and
five-time winner of the Giro d'Italia. The
2013 is floral and high-toned, its cool flavors of citrus and peach laced with notes of
rosemary, thyme and chamomile. Fresh and
lively five years after bottling, this wine is a
testament to timorasso's aging potential. § Verity Wine Partners, NY
274518

93 | Vigneti Massa

274259

90 | Vollereaux

FOCUS: TIMORASSO

$35

2017 Vino da Tavola Derthona ^ Walter
Massa, the man who rescued timorasso
from oblivion in the 1980s, now farms 30
acres of the variety and makes five different
bottlings, three from single crus. He refers to
this wine as his village-level timorasso, combining grapes from many different plots, and
he labels it Derthona, the ancient Roman
name for the territory and a term Massa has
trademarked, with the intention of eventually applying it to a new DOC. Like all of his
timorassos, the 2017 Derthona aged on the
lees in stainless-steel tanks, developing rich,
honeyed flavors. The wine opens gradually,
expanding into peach and apple tones lined

with notes of roasted fennel and warm spice. §
PortoVino, Buffalo, NY
274458

93 | Roagna

$88

92 | Vigneti Massa

$21

92 | Vigneti Massa

$75

2016 Vino da Tavola Derthona Montemarzino ^ Luca Roagna was one of the first Barolo
houses to get on the timorasso bandwagon,
and the 2016 is his third release of the wine.
Roagna sources the grapes from a 2.5-acre
plot near the town of Montemarzino in Colli
Tortonesi and ferments them with ambient
yeasts. In a departure from standard local
practice of aging the wines in tanks, Roagna
keeps his wine in large French oak casks for
two years, which may account for the wine's
hefty price tag. That oak influence comes
through in the wine's smoky, resinous tones
and hints of green almond, flavors that give
way with air to notes of chamomile, lemon oil
and green apple. Timorasso's signature high
acidity weaves the flavors together, giving the
wine an almost Chablisian aspect. Already
showing gorgeous contours, this is clearly a
wine that's built to age. § Polaner Selections,
Mount Kisco, NY
274517
2017 Vino da Tavola Piccolo Derthona
Terra (Best Buy) ^ Walter Massa began making Piccolo Derthona ("little Derthona") in
the 2015 vintage, using fruit from young
vines and aging the wine for just a few
months on the lees. The label indicates just
12 percent alcohol, relatively low for a timorasso from this region, yet it still feels round
and creamy, its white peach flavors lifted by
notes of mint and lime pith. Mineral tones
emerge after several hours of air as the wine
takes on a honeyed richness. Although the
name pegs this as an entry level wine, it has
balance and substance to improve over several years. § PortoVino, Buffalo, NY
274519
2014 Vino da Tavola Derthona Montecitorio ^ Montecitorio is one of Walter Massa's
three single-cru wines, planted on chalky,
east-facing slopes that help to moderate
ripeness and give wines with lower alcohol
levels while amplifying timorasso's naturally vigorous acidity. The 2014 Montecitorio offers scents of lime blossom and chamomile that lead into an eclectic array of flavors
WINE & SPIRITS

DECEMBER 2019

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Wine & Spirits - December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - December 2019