100% Nebbiolo (Chiavennasca)

Food pairings: The regional cooking of Valtellina, from buckwheat pizzoccheri with cabbage, potatoes and Casera cheese to mushroom risotto, along with mushroom and truffle dishes, meat dishes of every kind, pasta with rich meat sauces, game and aged cheeses.

Winemaking: The 2023 grapes were picked by hand on October 10th. After a 30-day maceration in 50-hectoliter wooden vats, the wine was aged for 6 months in large 50-hectoliter barrels, then rested in concrete and in bottle. The family follows what it calls "il giusto tempo di attesa", the right time to wait: the wines are bottled only when they are ready, with bottling still timed to the phases of the moon. Serve at about 15°C (59°F) in a Nebbiolo glass.

Vineyards and terroir: The grapes come from the lower slopes of Arpepe's vineyards in the Sassella and Grumello subzones, between Sondrio and Montagna in Valtellina, at 350 to 400 meters on south-east-facing slopes. Valtellina is a glacial valley carved by the Adda river that runs east to west between the Rhaetian and Orobic Alps, so its terraced vineyards on the Rhaetian side face south and soak up the sun from dawn to dusk, cooled by fresh winds from the north. Dry-stone walls hold up poor soils of crumbled granitic rock. The vineyards are kept under grass cover and, because the steep terraces allow no tractors, all the work, including vine treatments, is done by hand.

Family and history: The Pelizzatti Perego family has grown Nebbiolo in Valtellina since 1860, when the winery was known simply as "Pelizzatti". The brand and business were sold in 1973, but in 1984 Arturo Pelizzatti Perego started again under his own acronym, ARPEPE (ARturo PElizzatti PErego), regaining his share of the vineyards and the ageing cellars at Buon Consiglio in Sondrio. After Arturo fell ill, the fifth generation, his children Emanuele, Isabella and Guido, took over at the end of 2004. The Rosso di Valtellina was born in 2003, after a scorching summer that sorely tested the vines and the growers. Rather than sell off grapes that were not suited to a long-aged vintage wine, the family turned them into a free-spirited red meant to be enjoyed young.

In the pictures: Terraced Nebbiolo vineyards of the Valtellina Superiore Sassella zone near Sondrio, with ripe bunches on the vines (photo: Talete1, 2026, CC BY-SA 4.0). Vineyards in the Grumello zone, with the ruins of Castel Grumello on the hill and the Alps behind (photo: Maurizio Moro5153, 2021, CC BY-SA 4.0).