Valtellina

Valtellina is the high-Alpine face of Nebbiolo — here called Chiavennasca — grown on steep, hand-built stone terraces on the sun-facing north wall of a Lombardy valley near the Swiss border. Cooler and higher than its Piedmont homeland, it trades Barolo's brooding power for a paler, more fragrant, lighter-framed red of wild strawberry, dried rose, tea and brisk mountain acidity.