If you love the Nebbiolo wines of Barbaresco and Barolo, then you’ve likely been lured northward, toward the French/Swiss Alps, to try the lighter, more ethereal expressions of the grape—not just in ‘alto Piemonte’ (‘upper Piedmont’) appellations such as Lessona and Carema but, hopefully, the spectacular Alpine river valley in neighboring Lombardy called the Valtellina.
They call Nebbiolo “Chiavennasca” up here, and they grow it on steep, rocky terraces in the shadow of the Rhaetian Alps, with dizzying vineyard vistas reminiscent of those in Côte-Rôtie. Nebbiolo from Valtellina is not like any other Nebbiolo—its tannins and alcohol are more delicate, its aromas more floral, but its impact is no less profound. And as a testament to just how popular Valtellina has become—and to the no-stone-unturned resourcefulness of US importers—consider today’s tiny, farmstead winery, Boffalora: Giuseppe Guglielmo was a mechanic and part-time beekeeper whose small stand vineyards had long been tended by his father-in-law; when the older man passed away, Guglielmo and his wife took the wine plunge in 2002, originally selling their grapes to others. The first wines under their own label came from the 2009 vintage, and here we are just a few years later, with about 20 cases of their minuscule production to share with you. This complex, mineral 2014 elicited ‘oohs and ahhs’ around the tasting table and a discussion of Nebbiolo’s fascinatingly broad range of expressions. It was an exciting new discovery for us and promises to be one for you as well—don’t miss it!
As I’ve noted ad nauseum in previous offers, the Nebbiolos of the Valtellina may well be the most ‘Burgundian’ of any wines from the variety—even though Valtellina’s landscape 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 cavernous 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. The steep pitches of the hillsides require the vineyards to be terraced, and they’re held in place by a network of hand-laid stone walls. All vineyard work here, as is plain to see, must be done by hand.
With the Swiss Alps looming overhead, the Valtellina is one of the most extreme wine terroirs in the world, and a fairly small one, spanning about 300 hectares of vines along a 30-mile stretch of the Adda. The Valtellina DOC ‘discipline’ has a few different strata, including vineyards classified as “Valtellina Superiore” and a handful of name-designated single vineyards (Sassella, Valgella, Inferno, Grumello, and Maroggia) that effectively carry ‘grand cru’ status. Guglielmo’s vineyards, which include a small patch of 100-year-old, pre-phylloxera Chiavennasca, span about two hectares across several plots just west of the Sassella cru. His bees help him practice integrated pest management and all farming is carried out naturally and, of course, by hand—the vineyards are so steep that he uses a funicular to transport crates of harvested grapes down the slope. The name “Boffalora” is meant to evoke the interplay of breva winds that swoop up from Lake Como in the morning and the evening tivano breezes coming down from the Alps.
Wrung from soils of sand, silt, and stone (much of it hauled up from the valley floor to construct the terraces) and harvested in late October/early November, the Nebbiolo/Chiavennasca for “Pietrisco” is fermented in stainless steel and macerated on its skins for about two weeks. It is aged in large, used oak casks for 12-15 months and then rested in tank and later bottle for about six months before release. The 2014 “Pietrisco” is textbook Valtellina Nebbiolo through and through, shining a pale crimson moving to brick orange at the rim and filling the immediate area with aromas of wild red berries, orange peel, rose petals, chamomile tea, leather, crushed stones, and underbrush. Whereas many Valtellina reds are dominated by earth/minerality, this one offers up plenty of fruit to balance it. The real point of distinction is the texture: it is firm and fine, delicate even, and yet it persists indefinitely on the finish (to borrow from the world of diplomacy, it exercises “soft power”). It is ready to drink now after 30-45 minutes in a decanter but will also broaden and deepen over the next 5+ years (or more). Serve it at 60-65 degrees in Burgundy stems with a mushroom-dressed pasta as in the attached recipe; it’s a combination that’ll flood your senses without weighing you down. Enjoy!
