While everyone thought it was lost and hardly paid any attention to it, he saw a great wine, full of possibilities, a witness to a territory and its history. In northern Italy, specifically in the hills of Tortona, in Piedmont, the Timoraso, a variety native to the area, was on the verge of disappearing. The producers there hardly paid any attention to it because this grape, with a low yield and very prone to fungal diseases, produces rough and coarse wines, which require long aging times. However, Walter Massa, far from being discouraged, decided to recover the production of this grape from 400 vines that survived in the Vigneti Massa vineyard (his family winery). The result was a first production in 1987 of only about 570 bottles. Since then, and more than 30 years later, this guru and visionary has been joined by many other producers, forming between them the recent D.O.C. Colli Tortonesi. Today, this denomination includes several wines like Vigneti Massa Derthona Montecitorio.
Vigneti Massa Derthona Montecitorio is a single-variety Timoraso made exclusively from grapes grown in the Apennine and Pre-Apennine hills of the Marca Obertenga (which now covers an area of northeastern Italy and part of Switzerland that in the 10th century was under the power of the Obertenghi family). In this area, where the vines were endangered by phylloxera, Walter Massa has recovered 154 hectares, which is where this grape originates. The area has a wide variety of soils, ranging from clay and chalk to stone and sand.
When the Vigneti Massa Derthona Montecitorio grapes reach the winery, they spend the first 40-45 hours in cold storage, in contact with the skins. From there it is racked to stainless steel tanks, where it undergoes fermentation. It spends 12 months there in contact with its lees, where periodic battonage is carried out. After this, Vigneti Massa Derthona Montecitorio is bottled.
This story can be easily summed up in the phrase of the writer Og Mandino: “Success comes to those who are willing to work a little harder than the rest.” Walter Massa could have taken the easy way out, but he decided to pursue his convictions. That’s all there is to say. It’d be better to open a bottle of Vigneti Massa Derthona Montecitorio and see for yourself.