Oltretorrente Colli Tortonesi Timorasso 2023

After several years working for more conventional wineries, Chiara Penati and her husband Michele Conoscente started Oltretorrente in 2010 with the purchase of 1.5 hectares of vines..  Both agronomists from Milan who had worked all over Italy, they had several ideas about where to create their own reality and decided on the sleepy village of Paderna, set in the hills of the Tortona region (Colli Tortonesi) in southeast Piedmont, where there are only 30 estates bottling wine.  The name Oltretorrente means “Beyond the Stream,” in reference to the Scrivia, a tributary of the Po River, but it could be interpreted as “Countercurrent.”  Today, the estate covers 7.5 hectares. They farm their land organically, but use some biodynamic methods as well. Since they acquired the vineyards, they have worked to restore natural soil fertility by planting grass in soils that were hoed for many years; they did a thorough analysis of the soils of their 10 different parcels to determine which plants are the most beneficial to these sites.  They harvest the fruit from each of their parcels separately to preserve the characteristics of each. The Timorasso has lots of lemon custard and almond aromas, also apple and herb, and a super stony long finish. Made with cooled whole clusters of grapes gently crushed in a pneumatic press, the wine has real ageability, and in the meantime you could serve it with almost any fish.