Claudio Mariotto Timorasso ‘Cavallina’ 2022

Claudio Mariotto Colli Tortonesi, Piemonte There are producers who make wine, and there are producers who save it. Claudio Mariotto belongs firmly in the latter camp. The Mariotto family has been growing grapes in the rolling hills around Tortona, in the little-visited southeastern corner of Piemonte, since the winery was founded by great-grandfather Bepi in the 1920s. Today, the estate is spread across 24 hectares of hillside vineyards planted at around 300 metres above sea level, with many vines exceeding 50 years of age. It remains an entirely family affair, with Claudio working alongside his partner Rossana, his brother Marco, and his mother Piera. But what truly sets Claudio Mariotto apart is his role in rescuing one of Italy's most compelling white grapes from near oblivion. By the 1980s, Piemonte's native Timorasso was all but extinct — abandoned by many local growers in favour of more commercially fashionable varieties. Claudio was among the handful of producers who recognised what was being lost, and he dedicated himself to understanding and championing the grape. That conviction has since been vindicated many times over. Timorasso is not an easy grape to love at first — it demands patience, both in the vineyard and the cellar. It ripens late into the autumn, building extraordinary depth and structure, and the wines it produces reward those willing to wait. Powerful, mineral, and herbal, with concentrated citrus fruit and white flowers, Timorasso has been likened to some of the finest mineral whites in the world — Chablis, Sancerre, Etna — and it is slowly but surely climbing into the wider wine-drinking consciousness. Mariotto produces several expressions of the grape, each drawn from a different part of the estate and each telling a different story of the land. The Bricco San Michele offers an accessible introduction to the variety, while the single-vineyard Cavallina — grown on white marl soils — delivers a more complex, age-worthy character capable of developing over fifteen years or more. The Pitasso, from vines planted in 1998, represents the pinnacle of the range and has earned multiple Tre Bicchieri awards from Gambero Rosso. Decanter has described Mariotto as one of the 'colonels' of the Timorasso revolution, awarding his wines 93 points and praising their mineral precision and expressive depth. Beyond Timorasso, the estate works exclusively with native varieties. The Freisa Braghé is a characterful and often overlooked red — perfumed and earthy, with the kind of wild energy that speaks directly of its place. The Barbera and Croatina complete a range that is entirely focused on expressing the identity of the Colli Tortonesi, without compromise or concession to international fashion. Claudio Mariotto's wines are the product of quiet determination — made by a family that knows exactly where it comes from, and exactly what it wants to say.