De Alessandrini – Sassaia
Brand new High Potential Timorasso
Timorasso needs to be explained.
Here are the things that I think most effect the Timorasso wine:
1. Soil - what is elevation, location (N,S,E,W) and type of soil is important. For example - Ezio Poggio's vineyards are at the highest altitude (600 meters. Repetto is in Sarrazano (about 250-300 meters) and Walter is in Monleale at 300 meters. De Alessandrini is in Monleale which is considered the Grand Cru area. De Alessandrini is at the highest peak in Monleale at 425 meters and has 360 exposure (N,S,E,W) with 10 hectares. De Alessandrini overlooks 2 of the 4 valleys (Val Curone and Val Grue).
2. Crop load - practice green harvesting which reduces our crop load and increases flavor in the remaining bunches.
3. Harvest processing – de Alessandrini hands harvest which leaves some of the bunches behind. The grapes are then refrigerated at 5C for 24-36 hours before hand sorting and delivery into the Press.
Press - many people machine harvest and do a strong pressing and leave juice in contact with the skins for hours/days. De Alessandrini does a very soft press. As a result, they only produce about 3,500 bottles per hectare whereas others produce about 6,500 per hectare.
Fermentation – De Alessandrini ferment and age in french oak barriques. Most people ferment and age in stainless steel. Some wineries are doing too but still are fermenting in stainless steel and aging in barrels (usually 500L tonneaux). Also, de Alessandrini ferments with native yeasts, low slow fermentation (about 30 days) which augments aromatics and flavor. Most people inoculate with commercial yeast.
De Alessandrini produces more or less 50,000 bottles a year (vintage dependent) with approximately 50% being Timorasso.
One more point - especially for women.
Sugar is not that good for our weight issues. It is a winemakers choice to vinify to dry (no residual sugar which is <.5 gram. All their wines are vinified to dry. This is a style choice - burgundy style.
Which means, harvest time is especially crucial. They need to hit their brix targets, vinify to dry, and keep alcohols 13.5-14% target
Happy to share the news that all their 2026 vintage came in at 13.5-14% alcohol, and they picked extremely early this year due to the hot weather.
So, zero sugar, low sulfites, lower alcohol wine! And, lower calories!So the Alessandrini is hitting all the targets from A to Z in the way they produce! Very soon online!
Let’s Taste de Alessandrini- Sassaia at our next tasting event Autumn – Winter Piedmont Wine Tasting 24 th October 2026, Rue de la Loi – Wetstraat 26 – 1000 Brussels!
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