The Pellizzati family has been producing wine in Valtellina for over a century and a half, a valley of glacial origin that extends parallel to the Alps for 120 kilometers, from the Stelvio Pass to Lake Como. The first official documents mention the wines of this family as early as 1860, and tell how this last has continued to produce them, through four generations. Even if in 1973 the brand and the activity were sold, just 11 years later, in 1984, Arturo Pellizzatti Perego decided to take over the viticulture, coming back in possession of his part of vineyards and aging spaces in the Grumello area, in Buon Consiglio. Since then the winery has continued its work to enhance the alpine Nebbiolo through Arturo’s children, Isabella, Emanuele and Guido.
Making wines in Valtellina is a real choice of life, and also pretty tiring, because it means engaging in a real fight against the mountains, in order to protect terraced vineyards, always necessarily exposed to the south, created with hard work on the southern slope of the mountains themselves. One thing that immediately catches the eyes is the exclusively manual terraces working, since it would be materially impossible getting a tractor, and this situation involves the need for many hours of work for each individual hectare, up to 1500 (versus about 100/200 in more hospitable lands). In the cellar, carved into the rock, there are no pre-packaged recipes, and it is preferred to enhance the peculiarities of each single vintage through some operations that, over time, have become a true trademark. Long macerations (up to more than three months), for the best possible extraction, are followed by equally long aging (more than 10 years for the most famous wines), between cask and bottle, in order to obtain greater elegance.
Valtellina Superiore Grumello Riserva Buon Consiglio docg is located in the municipality of Grumello, 370 meters above sea level, on terraces with seven-metre walls completely covered with grass. The grapes, manually harvested and carried on the shoulders, in wicker baskets, along steep paths traced by man in the middle of the rocks, ferment and macerate for about two months, before resting for five years in large barrels (50 hl) and, subsequently, in bottle.
The 2009 vintage has an extremely delicate ruby color, streaked with garnet, with an olfactory range that opens on notes of red currant, blueberry, durone cherry and dried violet, followed by red orange, mountain flowers, balsamic herbs and vinyl, with concluding echoes of resin, blond tobacco and goudron. The palate is characterized by great balsamic freshness and citric acidity, with the softness that plays only a role as a bit player, along with the sapid-mineral component and elegant tannins; all embellished by the retro-olfactory return of red fruit, flowers and spices that accompany the sip to a juicy excellent length closure.
Rting: 92/100
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