La Colombera

'Derthona' Timorasso 2024

In 1996, when Elisa Semino wrote her oenology thesis on Timorasso, the grape had almost vanished from the hills around Tortona. Within a year she had planted her first vines on the family farm in Vho, which her grandparents had worked since the 1930s. Alongside her father Piercarlo and brother Lorenzo, she has made La Colombera one of the defining names in the Timorasso revival. Derthona, the ancient Roman name for Tortona, is the estate’s classic bottling, drawn from seven south-facing vineyards on limestone-clay soils and farmed organically. Fermented with native yeasts and aged nine months on lees in steel, the 2024 offers yellow plum, pear, melon, citrus and white flowers, with a gentle waxy texture, smoky minerality and bright, mouth-watering acidity. Generous now, it gains depth and complexity with age.