Wine and Spirits

WINES
“ Very strong”: this is what Leonardo da Vinci  thought about Valtellina’s wines. These wines are made with grapes picked with great effort from the terraces which with hard work were built up on the mountains.
This tradition in wine producing is by now celebrated and appreciated world-wide. Valtellina Superiore red wines can be split in the following categories:
– Sassella, with a dry and harmonic flavour, slightly tannic. Ideal match: game, red meat, cheese and Valtellina’s cold cuts.

– Grumello, with a fine perfume of almond tone, rich in fragrance. Ideal match: savoury dishes (such as risotto, polenta, sciatt), meat stew and local cheese.

– Inferno, with a dry and harmonic flavour, it softens during the ageing. Ideal match: roasted red meat, game and mature cheese.

– Valgella. Dry flavour, harmonic and round, with floral sensations. Ideal for mature cheese, red meat and also with Valtellina’s typical dishes.

– Maroggia. In the 15th century Benigno De’ Medici defined it “firmum et dulce” (firm and sweet),. Its flavour is full-bodied and smooth and it is the ideal with meats and mature cheese.

A special wine is Sforzato, made with wine grapes, which are left for 110 days to dry before being pressed. This wine ages for at least 24 months, so that it acquire intense perfumes and flavours.

DIGESTIVE SPIRITS
Ideal match with typical dishes.
– Livia, also called erba iva or taneda. Bitters made with infuse of yarrow (achillea muscata).

– Braulio. Alta Valtellina’s typical bitter liqueur, made with twelve herbs.

– Genziana. Bitter spirit made with gentian, with digestive properties.