La Colombera 'Bricco Bartolomeo' Cortese, Colli Tortonesi, Piemonte, Italy 2025
La Colombera is a five-generation farming story belonging to the Semino family, founded in 1938 and estate-bottling since 1980, entirely dedicated to this one hillside in the Colli Tortonesi. Elisa Semino — who wrote her enology thesis on Timorasso and remains one of its most articulate advocates — now runs winemaking alongside her brother and father. Cortese is best known under a different name a few kilometers north, in Gavi, but here on the Bricco Bartolomeo hilltop above the family cellar, it makes one of the region's most honest, food-friendly whites.
- Winemaker: Elisa Semino, with her brother and father
- Farming: Practicing Organic
- Variety: 100% Cortese, propagated by massal selection rather than commercial clones
- Terroir: Colli Tortonesi, southeastern Piemonte between Asti and the Ligurian border; Bricco Bartolomeo vineyard at 280–300 meters, southwest-facing, directly above the family cellar, on limestone-based clay; vines planted in 1977, with a second planting in 2000 from cuttings of the vineyard's older vines.
- Vinification: Three hours of skin contact; indigenous yeast fermentation in stainless steel.
- Aging: Five months on the lees in stainless steel.
- Tasting Notes: Crisp and bright, with golden apple, sliced pear, yellow citrus, fresh hay, and sweet herbs on the nose. The lees aging adds a gentle weight and roundness to what would otherwise be a leaner style, finishing long and stony.
- Food Pairings: Something light and bright — fried calamari, seafood pasta in a white wine sauce, or a simple risotto with peas and lemon. Or serve as an aperitivo with salumi, dolmades, a tin of smoked oysters, and giardiniera — a great picnic wine.
La Colombera 'Bricco Bartolomeo' Cortese, Colli Tortonesi, Piemonte, Italy 2025
La Colombera is a five-generation farming story belonging to the Semino family, founded in 1938 and estate-bottling since 1980, entirely dedicated to this one hillside in the Colli Tortonesi. Elisa Semino — who wrote her enology thesis on Timorasso and remains one of its most articulate advocates — now runs winemaking alongside her brother and father. Cortese is best known under a different name a few kilometers north, in Gavi, but here on the Bricco Bartolomeo hilltop above the family cellar, it makes one of the region's most honest, food-friendly whites.
- Winemaker: Elisa Semino, with her brother and father
- Farming: Practicing Organic
- Variety: 100% Cortese, propagated by massal selection rather than commercial clones
- Terroir: Colli Tortonesi, southeastern Piemonte between Asti and the Ligurian border; Bricco Bartolomeo vineyard at 280–300 meters, southwest-facing, directly above the family cellar, on limestone-based clay; vines planted in 1977, with a second planting in 2000 from cuttings of the vineyard's older vines.
- Vinification: Three hours of skin contact; indigenous yeast fermentation in stainless steel.
- Aging: Five months on the lees in stainless steel.
- Tasting Notes: Crisp and bright, with golden apple, sliced pear, yellow citrus, fresh hay, and sweet herbs on the nose. The lees aging adds a gentle weight and roundness to what would otherwise be a leaner style, finishing long and stony.
- Food Pairings: Something light and bright — fried calamari, seafood pasta in a white wine sauce, or a simple risotto with peas and lemon. Or serve as an aperitivo with salumi, dolmades, a tin of smoked oysters, and giardiniera — a great picnic wine.