Rivetti & Lauro

I know it has been a while, but I finally made it to continue my story about my visit to my preferred wine region and 2 wineries . Like I mentioned in my first blogpost about this trip with my dad , Valtellina is a a wine region that is very underestimated and sadly even unknown to many people. As this is a region that lays very close to my heart I want to promote it as much as I can 🙂

The first vineyard I visited during my stay was Rivetti & Lauro a rather new winery as they only exist since 2010. If I have to be completely honest it was a Belgian friend of mine who brought this vineyard to my attention 🙂 🙂 He told me I absolutely had to try their wines as they were spectacular. Who am I not to do as I’m told. Now that I’ve tried them I do agree with my friend and I can also speak for my dad as he bought 3 boxes of wine 🙂 . What intrigued me most about this winery was its location in Tirano. It intrigued me as I always thought all of the wineries (Nino Negri, Nero, Sandro Fay, Bettini, etc…)in Valtellina were or had to be located near/right around Sondrio (or Chiuro to be more specific). So it was something I wanted explore and know more about.

Just for the record, I am not a professional sommelier yet 🙂 I’m learning every day and I prefer learning everything by visiting and trying and I have some incredible people guiding me towards the estates that are worth visiting.

Rivetti & Lauro is a story about friends that shared a passion for many years and decided to take their passion to the next level. It was 2010 Alberto Rivetti and Dino Lauro opened the doors of their winery “Rivetti & Lauro”. Dino Lauro with over 20years experience in wine business at Nino Negri and 2 years at Salis. Alberto Rivetti on the other hand comes from the world of Coffee but also has a very good business background. They did also get a little help from former friends/ colleagues to realize their dream Catia, Emanuele and Pietro (that also have a long experience in winemaking).

As base location Rivetti & Lauro found a very beautiful unique location and are settled in the historical cellars of Torelli’s Palace. Palazzo Torelli is a 16^th century castle from Count Luigi Torelli who was an important personality of the valley and in Italian history. They also still have a beautiful old wine press in their cellar!! FYI they did remodel and renovate the cellar first 🙂

Did you know that Valtellina is the largest terraced wine-growing area in the Italian mountains? It is! This basically means lots and lots of manual labor during the harvest as every grape has to be picked by hand. On top of that it is also a place where Nebbiolo is grown (or in this region better known as Chiavennasca), a grape kind that is the synonym for noble and extraordinary quality. As we all know a great wine is made on the vineyards…the human only helps it a bit, but without the good ingredients the human goes nowhere 🙂 The showpiece wine or top of the top would be the Sforzato which is the Valtellina variant of Amarone (with different grapes that is) as they also use the grape drying technique like they do in the Valpolicella wine region. So now you also know why I’m such a big fan of those 2 regions…

What distinguishes Rivetti & Lauro from other vineyards in the area is that they are experimenting by growing new grape kinds and assembling them with the traditional Nebbiolo. I know that for lots it is like swearing in church, but I must say that it resulted in some very nice assemblies. The Rivetti & Lauro winery is also one of the smaller ones in Valtellina with a production of around 25000 bottles of wine that after vinification in small stainless steel tanks they get refined in French oak barrels. I always find it very courageous to open a new winery and trying to do their own thing and experiment and basically let a new wind blow through this wine region.

Rivetti & Lauro have 8 different types of wine( 7 red and 1 white). Wines going from the full-bodied pride of Valtellina the Sforzato and Sassella (both 100%Nebbiolo) to the “experimental” wines like the Cormelo’ a Nebbiolo and Merlot blend (basically the Valtellina variant of the Super Tuscans 😉 ) or the Satama’ a Nebbiolo – Shiraz blend. One of my personal favorites from Rivetti & Lauro is the UI’ a Nebbiolo in purezza (100% Nebbiolo) that aged for 24months in steel and wooden barrels. The UI’ balances both complexity and refinement perfectly and is a real pleasure to drink!! I noticed intense aroma of raisins mixes with the spices, hazelnut with tannins and acidity typical of wines from long vitality.

Although my biggest love of this wine region and my all time favorite will always be and stay the Sforzato/ Sfurzat!!! One of the most beautiful wines around if you ask me. If you would ever have the chance every year the wine region holds a Sforzato tasting from and with all the wine makers from the region… I call it paradise!!

It was a pleasure to have met this wonderful winery and its wonderful people!! Up to the next 🙂

I like wines from all over the world, I’m not a wine snob nor am I too chauvinistic but most of my preferred wines come from Italy 🙂 . That I’m a big fan of Valpolicella wines you already found out when I spoke to you about my wine trip through the Valpolicella wine region. The wine region that is on top of my list (and I have to admit also lays closest to my heart) is Valtellina! It is not only my preferred region because my family roots are here (most of my family lives in Valtellina), but also because this region produces the most wonderful wines!!

For many people it is still an unknown region and lots of times a forgotten region, unfairly if you ask me. I’m also not sure why this region isn’t more well known? Valtellina is a small region in the moutains in the North of Lombardy somewhere inbetween the Como lake and the Swiss border. Valtellina is mostly known amongst ski lovers as Valtellina has some of the most renowned ski areas in the world with towns like Bormio and Livigno (also known as it is taxfree) as the most famous. Every time I visit this region I fall in love with it over and over again.

The wines in the Valtellina region are mostly made with the Chiavennasca grape that is better known as Nebbiolo… YES indeed the grapes used to make that other Italian beauty called Barolo 🙂 . In this region however the wines go with names like Sassella, Inferno, Valgella and Sforzato which are bascially the names of area’s between Villapunta and Tirano with exception for Sforzato. The Sforzato wine is the Valtellina version of Valpolicella’s Amarone. Sforzato gets made in the same way by using partially ‘dried’ grapes aka the appassimento method (The drying process concentrates sugars and results in higher alcohol wines).

The wine estate that has put the Valtellina wines on the map on an International level (and I think everybody agrees on this) is Nino Negri. I’ve known Nino Negri my whole life as my dad also used to sell their wines in his restaurant… mainly because back then you didn’t find any other producers from the region in Belgium, but also that to my opinion they were and still are one of the best producers in the area. I wouldn’t be able to name a favorite from their gamma as I like all, but if you are a wine lover do try their Le Tense, Mazer, Sfurzat and if the budget allows it the 5 stelle which is an indescribable beautiful wine. It does warm up my heart that more and more wines from other wine producers from Valtellina found their way to Belgium or even to other countries all over the world. All or most Valtellina winemakers have joined forces and created a consortium that represents the whole wine region. I see this as a positive thing as together they are stronger then separately.

Nino Negri

When I am in the region I do always try to taste as many “new” producers (or maybe just ones that I didn’t know about). A few weeks ago (as you might have see on my FB or Instagram) I was in Valtellina for a family visit with my dad. Normally my babygirl was coming along, but unfortunately she became ill the night before leaving… so she stayed at home with my wife. I was sad she couldn’t come, but at the other hand this way we had the liberty of visiting some wine estates 🙂 🙂 If it were up to me I would have visited many more, but our main purpose for travelling to Valtellina was to visit family and the vineyard visits had to happen in between the family visits.

Initially I planned to visit 3 vineyards: Rivetti & Lauro, Balgera and Menegola. However we sadly didn’t manage to visit the last (Menegola) due to time issues, but I’m really sad about it because I was really looking forward to it… next time without any doubt!!!

The diffrences between the Rivetti & Lauro estate and Balgera couldn’t have been bigger. Rivetti is only producing wines for 3 years, whereas Balgera was one of the first estates to make wine in the region and it now already the 5^th generation of winemakers. Balgera is rather a classical style wine maker who respects the traditions, Rivetti on the other hand is a more modern estate that experiments with new methods and grapes…. I wouldn’t say that I prefer one over the other. They both have a different style of wine and depending on the circumstances I’ll prefer drinking one over the other 🙂 but I guess that’s the case with every wine

To be continued….

Spinelli's Dolce Vita

My passion for life

Hidden treasures: wines from Valtellina: Rivetti e Lauro

Hidden treasures: Wines from Valtellina