Vigneti Massa
Twelve years ago, during our previous Piedmont trip, I met Walter Massa and discovered Timorasso. I subsequently wrote a blog post titled The Day I Fell in Love with a Piemontese White. It really was the beginning of my love affair with his wines.
This time, Walter’s nephew Filippo welcomed us. The little boy we remembered from 12 years ago is now a fine young man helping with the family winery. That alone was a reminder of how much time had passed.
Filippo was taking us through the winery and tasting when Walter suddenly appeared.
I showed him photographs of us together from 12 years ago. His face lit up. A few moments later, Shirley and I were being bundled into his old Defender and driven into the vineyards!
No plan. No formal tour. Just Walter deciding that we needed to see his vines.
He still speaks virtually no English and my Italian remains equally hopeless, yet somehow we talked, laughed and understood each other. Wine apparently comes with its own translation service.
Back at the winery, Filippo took us through an impressive flight of 12 wines, which gave us a much broader look at the different expressions of Vigneti Massa. Among them were the wines I had especially been looking forward to revisiting, including Derthona, his celebrated Timorasso, as well as Cerreta and Bigolla. Different wines, different personalities, but unmistakably Massa.
What was supposed to be a winery visit became an entire afternoon of reconnecting with a man and wines that had stayed in my memory for more than a decade.
Twelve years apart. Same Walter. Same infectious passion. Older vines, older bottles and, admittedly, older visitors too.
Some wines you remember because they are good. Others become attached to a place, a person and a moment in your life.
For me, Vigneti Massa will always be the latter.
** You can read about my previous visit here -> https://chefandsommelier.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-day-i-fell-in-love-with-piemonte.html **
