Marino Lanzini Valgella Valtellina Superiore DOCG (2020) –– Lombardia

From the terraces his grandfather planted and Marino rebuilt by hand: the wine that explains why he bothered.

THE GRAPE
Nebbiolo, known here as Chiavennasca, from Valgella — the easternmost and one of the most sought-after of the five Valtellina Superiore subzones. Old vines on dry-stone terraces so steep the grapes come down in baskets. The grape does not like it easy, and here it isn't.

THE WINE
Selected bunches, two years in oak, and then patience. The result is a Nebbiolo with real depth but no heaviness: dried rose, red plum, sweet spice and a smoky, flinty edge from the rock underneath. 2020 gave it generosity; the altitude gave it grip. Lovely now with a decant, better still in five years.

FOOD PAIRING
Braised beef, slow-cooked lamb shoulder, polenta with a rich mushroom ragù, or a well-aged Bitto. This is a wine that wants something that has spent hours in the oven.

THE WINEMAKER
Marino Lanzini took over his family's vineyards and cellar in Ponte in Valtellina in 2015 and started by doing the hard thing: rebuilding his grandfather's terraces in Valgella by hand, one stone at a time. He is a quiet man who makes a small amount of wine and does not rush it — oak, a little chestnut, and time. His wines taste of the family and the mountain, in that order. Nebbiolo from the Alps, farmed by someone who still climbs it.