Piedmont 2013, Day 2 - Dinner with Walter Massa of Vignetti Massa
Ristorante Bovio, La Morra, Piedmont, Italy
Tasted Tuesday, June 18, 2013 by Paul S with 707 views
Introduction
Walter Massa has been credited for reviving the Tortona region by resurrecting the historical varietals of Timorasso and, to a lesser extent, Croatina as viable Piedmontese options. His unusual wines have been getting rave reviews from wine geeks and professional critics alike. So when we could not make it to visit him in our packed schedule, it was such a privilege that he decided to drive all the way up from Monleale to La Morra (with a whole raft of his wines en magnum and the engimatic Pigi in tow) to meet us for dinner at the lovely Ristorante Bovio.
It was a treat spending the evening with Walter - he was a real character, with very definite opinions about Piedmont, wine and life in general. Most of all though, drinking through a range of his wines opened my eyes to just how complex and characterful a wine Timorasso can be, with its powerful textures, appealing fruit and quirky floral inflections, and backbone of mineral and spice wed to lovely, fresh acidities. It is a pity that these wines are often overlooked in favour of Roero Arneis and Cortese di Gavi – while those grapes are capable of making decent wines, Timorasso seems to be the one white varietal in Piedmont that can transcend the mundane and achieve pretty world-class standards. The reds were not half bad either.
Given how naturally Walter makes his wines, I am really not sure how well these travel from Piedmont – a bottle of the entry-level Derthona I had in Singapore was oxidative and awkward - nowhere near as good as what we had tonight. But for a wine-lover, or indeed anyone remotely interested in wine, Vignetti Massa’s great whites are a must-try.
2011 Vigneti Massa Derthona 91 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Colli Tortonesi
A very interesting wine for something that is supposed to be entry level. It showed a nice honeyed tone on the nose, along with stone fruit and musk melon aromas, some sweet citrussy lemons, and a touch of spice. The palate was weighty but nicely balanced, with refreshing acidity running through its gently fruity notes, showing fresh melons on the attack and midpalate moving into a sweeter dried mango notes at the finish, all with a nice minerality underneath. Still young, but there was already a nice nascent complexity here. This should do well with another 2-3 years in the bottle.
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2010 Vigneti Massa Derthona Montecitorio 92 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Colli Tortonesi
A step up from the entry-level Derthona that preceded it, this had a very complex nose, with white peach and other stone fruit notes speckled with scents of spice and and mineral, herbs and honey. Very intriguing. The palate was weightier and definitely more serious, with a powerful feel to its honeyed tones with fleshy flavours of white peach and spice arrayed on a very full midpalate. Rich though it may have been, there was always a little seam of acidity keeping it on lithe on its feet, with a citrussy base opening up into surprisingly fresh finish, with leaner notes of lemon zest, fruit pips and long intertwine of mineral and spice at the end. With time a bit of time and air, the wine actually seemed fresher and fresher, with the honeyed overtones ceding the way slightly to clear lemony tones. A very nice wine, and one that deserves a few years in the cellar at least.
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2008 Vigneti Massa Derthona Costa del Vento 92 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Colli Tortonesi
I enjoyed this quite a bit. It had a beautiful nose, super complex with chalky mineral scents forming a nice base for bright scents of green apple and lemons, honey dancing around some honey and floral notes. The palate was rich and oily textured, with ripe notes of stone fruit and dried mango layered with lemon oil and flecked by a nice spiciness. All this was punctuated by a very fresh spine of lemony acidity that kept the wine really supple and effortless in spite of its richness. I really liked this. It had all sorts of little complexities too, especially towards the long finish, which had lemon, spice and mineral notes playing all over the back-palate. Great stuff – this felt like it was just creeping towards a nice drinking window, but was also clearly a wine that will last and keep growing for quite a lot longer in the bottle.
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2007 Vigneti Massa Derthona Sterpi 93 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Colli Tortonesi
Super. Even with the couple of really nice wines that preceded it, this was easily the best wine on the night and, indeed, one of the more memorable bottles, red or white, of our trip in Piedmont. It had an incredible nose which brought to mind a fresher version of the very best Northern Rhone whites I have had, with deep wafts of chalky mineral and stoney earth forming a base for sweet stone fruited aromas, honeysuckle flowers and dripping of nectar. Really alluring. The palate was no slouch either. Like the Costa del Vento that precede it, this had a wonderful spine of fresh, lively, lemony acidity, almost nervous with all its energy; but there was much more going on above that here – layers of honeyed nectarines and peaches sprinkled with spice and lined with mineral, all touched with a beautiful honeyed glow. So yummy. It then pulled away from the midpalate into a long, effortlessly powerful finish, where all the elements came together in a beautifully integrated whole –honeyed, fruity, but really fresh and minerally. This was a lovely wine, drinking at a wonderful place. Walter Massa regaled us with a story of how Osteria Francescana, the Modena restaurant that was just rated third best in the world by San Pellegrino, wanted to buy up his stock of 2007 Sterpi magnums. He winked as he told us that he refused them as he wanted to keep back all the remaining bottles for himself - I can see why.
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