Valtellina: Where the Nebbiolo grape is called Chiavennasca

Nebbiolo, the variety undergirding the Langhe's famed Barolo and Barbaresco wines, is considered Italy's most noble grape, primarily based on its performance in that region. But Nebbiolo shines elsewhere in the Italian north, in an area where it is called Chiavennasca. In a vertigo-inducing wine region called Valtellina, a 25-mile-long, east-west valley in the Rhaetian Alps hard by the border with Switzerland. Fernando Batata MS (fernandobatata.com) indicates that written records of the word nebiol can be traced back to articles in Torino in 1268 while the word Chiavennasca is not encountered in Valtellina until 1595. DNA results indicate that the variety could have either originated in Valtellina or Piemonte but that the variety is so old that its parents are probably extinct.

Source:thevinofiles.typepad.com

Valtellina (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

The climate in the Valtellina region is cool but this is mitigated somewhat by an abundance of sunlight falling on the valley's south-facing slopes. Fungal influences are kept at bay by cool alpine breezes and warm air blowing in from Lake Como.

Soils are alluvial, gravelly, and rich in silica. The larger stones peppering the mix collect heat during the day and release it at night, mitigating the high diurnal temperature variation as well as helping to prevent frost in the spring.

Vineyards are planted on the sun-splashed south-facing slopes in order to promote ripening at elevations which range from 230 m (750 ft) to 765 m (2500 ft). The vineyards are planted on terraces which had been manually carved out of the mountainsides by inhabitants in the distant past. The vineyard locations are so steep that, in some cases, tracks have been laid to allow small devices to carry harvested grapes down to the bottom. In some cases helicopters are utilized to carry materiel down from these mountains.

In Valtellina the grape can struggle to ripen and does not produce the distinct tannin found in Piemonte. Batata sees the wines as lighter and more perfumed than its Langhe counterpart but still retentive of the mouthwatering acidity for which it is renowned.

The primary wine from the region is the Valtellina Superiore DOCG which is made from a minimum 90% of the native variety. A total of 282 ha (697 acres) are devoted to this wine with annual production at 13,325 hl (140,000 cases). This wine was initially awarded DOC status in 1968 and upgraded to DOCG in 1998. The Superiore is aged for a minimum of 24 months while an available Superiore Riserva has to be aged for a minimum of 36 months.

A second Valtellina DOCG wine -- Sforzato di Valtellina -- is also Chiavennasca-based but is made in the passito style where the grapes are dried out (to concentrate the sugars) prior to fermentation. The requirements for the Sforzato are: (i) the grapes be Chiavennasca, (ii) the style be passito, (iii) the wine be fermented dry, and (iv) the alcohol level be a minimum 14%.

Grapes that are not Superiore quality can be made as  a DOC wine called Valtellina Rosso or Rosso di Valtellina.

Both the DOC and DOCG wines can be labeled with one of five subzone names: Grumello, Inferno, Sassella, Valhalla, or Maroggio. To be so labeled, 100% of the grapes must be sourced from the subzone. According to Meraviglia and Bitturi (An Overview of Italian Wines), the characteristics of the subzones are as follows:

• Sassella -- the most elegant and complex wines due to the presence of iron in the soils
• Grumello -- smoothest and softest while retaining complexity
• Inferno -- robust and highest in alcohol. Warmest and most sun-drenched of the subzones
• Valgella -- simplest. Crisp and acidic. Coldest of the subzones
• Maroggia -- added in 2002. Still developing its character.

Some Valtellina wines may be labeled Stagafassli, signaling Valtellina grapes bottled and/or aged in neighboring Swiss towns by Swiss-based owners whose vineyards span the border.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Book Review: Passion on the Vine

Sergio Esposito's Passion on the Vine (Broadway Books 2008) is a funny, intriguing, thought-provoking, multi-layered discourse weaved around and through the central themes of the book: memories, food, wine, and family.  Esposito, the Founder and CEO of Italian Wine Merchants, sought to provide readers with an "intimate and evocative" memoir of his experiences living in Italy and the U.S.A. and his travels back to the old country as a part of his wine business.  The book more than delivers.

When I initially saw the book, I thought Ha! An Italian book by a guy who sells Italian wines.  A great paid-for marketing opportunity.  But even though the book introduces wines and regions to the reader, it is not done in an obtrusive manner.  Rather, it is woven into the fabric of the story and the reader is grateful for these nuggets of knowledge (I had developed a pretty good wish list and list of observations by the time I had completed my read.).

The book has pronounced longitudinal and circular facets.  Longitudinal in that the early sections focus on Serge's development over time, both in terms of life in Italy and America and as an employee within the restaurant/wine business.  Circular in that he uses a trip to Italy with his family as a platform from which to jump back in time to key interactions with Italian wine stalwarts, always returning to the family at the end of the reverie.  Circular in that he neatly closes the loop at the end of the book on his brother's early question as to the origin of the wines they were tasting at the St. Regis in Rome and in the way he visited his Naples extended family for Sunday lunch, bringing along his Alaskan wife and his two kids.

The author's writing style makes this an easy book to read but it is far from substance-free.  It contains one of the most elevated discussions on traditional versus modern winemaking that I have encountered to date and follows this up with scintillating discussions on biodynamics, artificial versus natural yeasts, and the elements of vitiviniculture.  In terms of traditional versus modern winemaking, Sergio reaches back to the philosophies of the earliest winemakers -- priests and alchemists, according to him -- and relates that their philosophies guided those who followed.  Technology, he says, has come to be the bane of this traditional approach.  "New wines are produced by technologies that allowed modernists to exaggerate everything in the wine while de-emphasizing vineyard care."

Espositio gives Parker his due as the individual who provided the light when Americans needed direction in exploring the hitherto murky waters of wine drinking.  He points out, however, that Parker has favored a wine style that is the complete opposite of traditional Italian wines.  Further, the rating system has introduced an insidious new dynamic, the sense among consumers of "right" (Parker high-rated) and "wrong"(not so much) wines.  Sergio raises the question as to what is actually accomplished when wine is tasted and then described in Parkeresque language.  How do we get from the aromatic description to a sense of "excellence?"  Carlo Maggi, one of Sergio's friends, exhorts us to "use your nose, mouth, and eyes and you will know if you like a wine."  You get the sense that Sergio also subscribes to this philosophy.

The author utilizes flashbacks of meetings with key players in the Italian wine industry to illustrate the wine and food cultures in Italy and, in so doing, opens up a sometimes funny window into the Italian psyche.  I was on a plane coming back from Tuscany when I read Sergio's account of Steve Clifton's (of Brewer-Clifton) wedding reception in Friuli and I could not restrain the laughter that came pouring out.

I enjoyed this book immensely.  It can be read and enjoyed by both novice and expert and its travelogue-style identification of restaurants and hotels in Italy can only redound to the benefit of those organizations.  My question is: Where can I get a bottle of the 1985 Malvasia di Candia?