Why it matters
The producer
Cantine Volpi started in 1914 as the wine cellar behind a family osteria in Tortona, a town in the province of Alessandria in southern Piedmont. The family fed the restaurant and sold the surplus. Five generations later, that surplus has become 2.5 million bottles a year shipped to 35 countries, and the cellar is now certified organic by ICEA, the Italian Institute for Ethic and Environmental Certification.
The winery is a member of the Consorzio di Tutela Colli Tortonesi DOC, the body that governs the appellation and groups over 115 producers covering nearly all of the region's output. Within that framework, Cantine Volpi's most considered wine is Timorasso La Zerba, a full-bodied white made from Timorasso, a native Piedmontese grape, grown at Cascina La Zerba, an estate the family bought in Volpedo in 2003.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Tortona sits at the southern edge of Piedmont, where the Apennines begin to press in from Liguria and the Ligurian coast is close enough to pull in maritime air. The Colli Tortonesi DOC covers the hills around the city, and its most distinctive contribution to Italian wine is Timorasso, a white grape that nearly disappeared in the twentieth century and has been rebuilt almost entirely within this appellation.
Volpedo, where Cascina La Zerba stands, is one of the core villages for Timorasso production. The hills here channel a vineyard climate that pushes Timorasso toward full ripeness while the altitude keeps enough acidity to prevent the wine from going flat. The label on Timorasso La Zerba carries the Colli Tortonesi DOC designation, which links the wine to this specific geography and to the appellation's native-grape mandate.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
At Cascina La Zerba, Timorasso is hand-harvested, which allows cluster selection and minimises oxidation before the grapes reach the cellar. Fermentation runs cool in stainless steel, a choice that preserves the aromatic lift of the grape, specifically the white flower, citrus, and stone fruit notes that define La Zerba on the nose. After fermentation, the wine ages in old oak, which adds weight and texture to the mid-palate without contributing oak flavour. The wine is full-bodied but not heavy, with the tannin-like grip of the old wood felt as texture rather than bitterness.
Across the range, the winery uses only natural yeasts, limits sulfite additions to the minimum required for stability, adds no sugar, and avoids fining agents except for bentonite derived from chalk. These choices, applied at 2.5 million bottle scale, represent a deliberate constraint on production flexibility in favour of cleaner wine chemistry.
Wines to know
The range in view
Timorasso La Zerba (Colli Tortonesi DOC) is the winery's most developed white. Made from Timorasso grown at the Cascina La Zerba estate in Volpedo, it is full-bodied, with ripe peach and apricot on the nose alongside citrus, white flowers, and a note of honey. The palate carries rich fruit anchored by a mineral undercurrent and tangy acidity that prevents the ripeness from collapsing into weight. Old oak ageing gives the wine textural substance without adding oak character. This is not a quick-drinking white: the acidity and body together support two to five years of further development.
Boira Pecorino sits at the lighter, more immediate end of the range. Pecorino is a white grape associated with Marche and Abruzzo rather than Piedmont, and the wine reflects its southern Italian origins: fresh acidity, citrus tones, yellow apple and pear fruit, and a clean mineral finish. It drinks well young and pairs easily with food, particularly fresh vegetables, asparagus, and soft goat's cheese.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Timorasso La Zerba is the bottle to start with. It is a Colli Tortonesi DOC white made from Timorasso, a grape native to this part of southern Piedmont, grown at the Cascina La Zerba estate the family acquired in Volpedo in 2003. Hand-harvested, cool-fermented in stainless steel, and aged in old oak, it delivers ripe stone fruit, citrus, and white flowers on the nose with a full-bodied, mineral, and tangy-acid palate. The old oak adds texture rather than flavour.