Valtellina Nebbiolo may well be the most ‘Burgundian’ of any wines from the variety—although, physically speaking, Valtellina has more in common with Cornas or Côte-Rôtie, in the northern Rhône Valley, than it does with the gentle slopes of Burgundy. Centered around city of Sondrio, in the northernmost reaches of Italy’s Lombardy region, Valtellina is a deeply carved valley traversed by the Adda River, which follows an almost perfect East-West path; vineyards are planted only on the north bank of the Adda, giving them full-south, all-day sun exposures in a climate that might otherwise be too cool to ripen grapes—especially the late-ripening Nebbiolo.

Rosso di Valtellina contains 100% Nebbiolo that was fermented in stainless steel and aged in a mixture of used French oak barriques and larger Slavonian oak barrels of various sizes. It’s a ‘younger-drinking’ style by design, having spent just five months in barrel before bottling, but then again, this is Nebbiolo we’re talking about—give it at least 30 minutes in a decanter to soften its fine-grained tannins and blossom aromatically. In the glass, it’s a medium garnet red with hints of pink and orange at the rim, with the kind of aromatic profile that has you swirling and sniffing for minutes before you take your first sip: perfumed scents of cranberry, raspberry, orange peel, dried flowers, tobacco, sandalwood, and a hint of black pepper. It is medium-bodied, with a bright, racy quality that makes it a nice foil for meats and cheeses;
Valtellina is known for a mountain-pastured cow’s milk cheese called Bitto, and this wine will cut through that like a pair of skis through fresh powder.