Importer notes The Piedmont Guy:

"Enrico Mandirola cites 1913 as the founding year of his family’s storied wine estate. In this year, Enrico’s great-grandfather purchased a small farm in the village of Casasco in the Colli Tortonesi, a hilly zone tucked in the southeastern corner of Piedmont and hemmed by the Apennine Mountains to the south. The original property was largely planted to grapes, grain, and corn. Over the course of the following century, the estate now known as Mandirola 1913 invested heavily in their vineyards, ultimately arriving at 11 hectares under vine today. Enrico’s production is centered on Timorasso, an exceptionally dynamic white wine grape renowned for its textural delight and uncommon ageworthiness. This estate holds the distinction of owning the oldest known plantings of Timorasso in the Colli Tortonesi within an historic vineyard named Tantèi, a site from which the earliest massale selections were taken to rescue Timorasso from extinction in the late 1980s."

About the cuvee, Flor impressions:

"Rare" doesn't begin to do justice to how uncommon it is to find a traditional method sparkling wine made out of Timorasso. There are others (we hear), but not that have come around this way. Made from 100% Timorasso grown on Southwest facing slopes, the base wine is fermented in temperature controlled stainless steel and aged briefly on the fine lees, before undergoing its second fermentation in bottle. It then spends 24 months on tirage lees before disgorgement. Intriguing aromas of white button mushrooms and honey, while a wonderfully fine mousse belies its traditional aging in bottle.