Sforzato della Valtellina Dell'Orco, Rivetti & Lauro

The Sforzato della Valtellina is a very little known Italian red wine, even amongst Italians, due to its very limited production.

Sforzato in Italian means "forced", and in this case it means Nebbiolo grapes harvested and then let drying for about 3 months to eliminate the water and concentrate the fruit, to enhance its aromas and flavours. The process is very similar to the process of the Amarone della Valpolicella or "appassimento, and compared to a normal Barolo, also made with 100% Nebbiolo grapes, the Sforzato della Valtellina has more fruit, softer tannins and higher acidity due to the Nebbiolo grapes being grown on the mountains of the Valtellina, north of Lombardy. The wine is then aged for 30 months before being released.

We tasted the wine by chance at the Vinitaly, we were just walking around and decided to visit the booth of the producer, but after tasting it, we could not walk away from it, the Sforzato della Valtellina is a great red wine, full, elegant, complex, plenty of fruit, smooth, and just to confirm that we have a nose for great wines, a few months after we started importing it, the wine was awarded Gold medal at the Decanter Wine Awards 2018.

Enjoy on its own, sip by sip, or drink with some mature cheese