Ezio Poggio "Caespes" 2021 Timorasso Terre di Libarna Colli Tortonesi

750ml bottle

12.5% abv

REGION: Piemonte

GROWING AREA: Colli Tortonesi

FARMING: Organic, in conversion (certified from the 2025 harvest)

VINEYARD: 4 plots, 6 Ha

ALTITUDE: 450 m / 1,476 ft SOILS: Limestone and clay

VARIETIES: 100% Timorasso

VINE AGE: 12 years old

VINE TRAINING: Guyot

HARVEST DATE: Last 10 days of September

YEASTS: Native

FERMENTATION & ÉLEVAGE: Soft press and fermentation for 1 month at 16°C. Élevage in stainless steel tanks for 8 months with weekly battonages.

MALOLACTIC FERMENTATION: No

SULPHUR: 40 mg/L during the vinification and before bottling

ANNUAL PRODUCTION: 1,250 cases

The Colli Tortonesi in Piedmont is home to the glorious white grape called Timorasso. From Monte Giarolo at 1473 meters, five valleys and their rivers have formed over the centuries to encompass today’s Colli Tortonesi. Each valley has its own distinct micro-climate, yet the subzone of Libarna [LEE-barn-a] in Val Borbera remains the most extreme. Here lies Ezio Poggio winery and vineyards.

Cupped by the Apennines’ northern most reach, amid abandoned Roman ruins and overgrown forests, Libarna imbues an ancient silence. It’s the most southern growing area of the Colli Tortonesi, yet it has the highest elevation by far, topping out at 650 meters. Winds howl on the limestone, marl, and clay soils; temperatures drop to 10/15 °C during summer nights. Ezio Poggio is the only producer currently bottling here, with his first vintage being 2008 after four years of propagating vines from massale selection.

The extreme elements and conditions make for a later harvest than the other Timorasso growing areas; there’s little need for early picking. If the Timorasso valleys in the north exude wines with texture and complexity, Libarna’s terroir offers vertical wines – with marked acidity (verticalità ed acidità spiccata, Ezio says). They highlight Timorasso’s green herbal side (thyme, green tea, tomato leaf), along with under-ripe stone fruits and low alcohol (~ 12.5%).

Four vineyard plots are used to produce the bottling called Caespes [‘CHESS-piss’]. Besides making a great chess tournament title, it is also Latin for turf, sod, grass. The wine spends 8-12 months on the lees in steel tanks with occasional battonage.