Dirupi Valtellina Superiore DOCG (2022) - Lombardia, Valtellina

If you only open one Dirupi, make it this. It's built from parcels between 400 and 550 metres, each vinified separately and then blended. The result feels like the whole valley in one glass.

THE GRAPE
100% Chiavennasca, from granite-rich, sandy soils on steep south-facing terraces. Low parcels bring ripeness and perfume, high ones bring tension and acidity, and the blend keeps both.

THE WINE
Red fruit, violets and rose, with a cool granite freshness running underneath. It's elegant without being polite, with real depth and a long, savoury finish. It's happy on the table now, and it will still be around in ten years.

FOOD PAIRING
Braised veal, guinea fowl, aged mountain cheese such as Bitto, polenta with something rich on top.

THE WINEMAKER 
Davide Fasolini (Aka Faso) and Pierpaolo Di Franco (Aka Birba) played basketball together as kids, studied oenology in Milan, and founded Dirupi in 2004 with a first vintage of 1,600 bottles. They make wine in a 16th-century palazzo in Ponte in Valtellina, from around 7 hectares split into small plots across more than 20 subzones. The vines sit on dry-stone terraces between 400 and 600 metres, some at gradients up to 70%, worked entirely by hand and organically. Everything is done by hand and organically. Every parcel is vinified on its own, with long macerations, then the two of them decide what each one wants to be.