Sforzato della Valtellina Ronco del Picchio Fay 2018

Sforzato della Valtellina Ronco del Picchio, natural wine, made from grapes dried for 90 days.  Like Amarone, Sforzato or Sfurzat is rich, hedonistic and intense.  It is a true Vino da Meditazione.  Sforzato represents the best of Nebbiolo in the Valtellina.  Fay’s top wine has to be our favourite.  It is grown at 700 metres up on death defyingly steep terraces.  Ronco del Picchio is a labour of love for young wine maker Marco Fay because it is so hard and labour intensive to produce.  They cannot get any mechanisation up there on the high slopes, not really even horses.  All the vineyard work is by hand.  In the winter, the vineyards are well below freezing and so manual work is gruelling.

Sforzato della Valtellina Ronco del Picchio has unmistakable style and personality with a rich layered profile from ripe Nebbiolo fruit to cocoa and sweet fruits from the appassimento.  The palate is both powerful and warm but also fresh and has great finesse.  This is stunning Nebbiolo, although different, it is a rival for many in Piemonte and is without doubt one of Italy’s great red wines.  A must try for lovers of great Nebbiolo, and also for lovers of Amarone.

Vini Fay, the Societa Agricola Fay in the Valtellina, northern Lombardy, was founded in 1973 by Sandro Fay who decided to expand this small family estate's activities.

Since 1998, Sandro has been aided by his children Marco and Elena with Marco now leading the winery and wine making. The estate is 15 hectares on the terraced Valtellina mountains.  Here, surrounded by mystically high peaks, they grow Nebbiolo, locally called Chiavennasca.  The vines are grown between 350 and 900 metres above sea level. The soil in their vineyards is very poor, rocky and sandy, made by crumbled granitic formations.

The Valtellina Valley is split into sub-regions running from East to West.  These sub-regions are known as the Crus of the Valtellina.  They are called, Marrogia, Sassella, Grumello, Inferno and Valgella.  The vineyards of Vini Fay are mainly located in the Sassella and Valgella Crus.

Chiavennasca in Lombardia differs slightly in style from Nebbiolo in Piemonte.  It tends to be a touch softer and less tannic.  The younger wines can be very fresh and feminine with red fruits and intense floral aromas.  The more serious Cru wines are deeper, more savoury and will age very well.  At Vini Fay they also make an Amarone style wine from Nebbiolo called Sforzato or Sfurzat as  it is often called.  It is a traditional wine from the area and is made with dried grapes, like Amarone della Valpolicella.  Generally they dry them for about 90 days rather than 120  in Valpolicella.  These are concentrated,  complex and fabulous wines to drink.

To meet Marco, son of Sandro and current wine maker at Vini Fay, you would never know his wines are served at some of Europe's finest tables. He is the most softly spoken and humble bloke you could ever hope to meet. Still young, he spends considerable time in the vineyard on the steep terraces where the Nebbiolo grows.  Marco and his wines deserve all the plaudits they get.  This is wine hard made, steep slopes, low yields, freezing temperatures make for hard physical graft and Marco does it happily with a big smile and great humility.