Chiara Penati and her husband Michele Conoscente started Oltretorrente in 2010 with the purchase of 1.5 hectares of vines.  Both agronomists from Milan who had worked in vineyards over Italy, they had several ideas about where to create their own reality and decided on the sleepy village of Paderna, set in the hills of the Tortona region (Colli Tortonesi) in southeast Piedmont.  History shows that the Colli Tortonesi was prized for its Barbera, which fetched higher prices than those of the Langhe and even Asti.  But today, the pull to the area is undoubtedly towards Timorasso, arguably one of the most exciting and age-worthy whites in Italy.  In the early 1990s there were just three producers of Timorasso here, including Walter Massa, who is credited with saving the grape variety.  By the time Chiara and Michele got started, there were around thirty producers of Colli Tortonesi.  Today, that number has quintupled, with larger, moneyed producers moving in from fancier areas.  Timorasso is having what seems to be its lasting moment; the producers are pushing from within to have a Timorasso-specific appellation called Derthona, in reference to the old Roman name for the town of Tortona. 
Oltretorrente takes its name from the eponymous neighborhood in the city of Parma.  In 1922 its working-class citizens heroically barricaded their district and, against all odds, defeated a squad of several thousand fascists.  Chiara and Michele were inspired by this event.  Having no family ties to winemaking, the origin of their winery felt like a dream, a mission impossible, a poetic but desperate undertaking born spontaneously through the force of will and the coming together of people.  They started by resuscitating old vineyards--some dating back to 1920--and a few years later began planting their own, mostly to Timorasso.  Today they have 9 hectares producing, half of which they planted themselves.  The sites are mostly located on two sides of the same hill in Paderna, more north-facing for the whites and south-facing for the reds.  Many of the slopes are steep enough that when it rains, their small caterpillar tractor is useless and they have to do the vineyard work the old-fashioned way.  They farm their land organically, but of course use some of the age-old knowledge we now call biodynamics.  In the old vineyards they have worked to restore natural soil fertility by planting grass in soils that were hoed for many years; they did a thorough analysis of the soils of their 10 different parcels to determine which plants are the most beneficial to these sites.  They harvest each plot separately to preserve the characteristics of each.
In the cellar, practices change depending on what the vintage gives them.  In general, however, for the white wines they put whole bunches into the pneumatic press instead of destemming and crushing; there is no skin maceration and malolactic is not necessarily a given. For the reds, they harvest at full ripeness, and long macerations follow.  For both whites and reds, aging is always on the lees to increase the complexity and stability of wines in a natural way.  Concrete is the vessel of choice. Production can vary considerably depending on the whims of Mamma Natura, but in a generous year, they can produce 40,000 bottles.