Rainoldi, il Nebbiolo di ValtellinaThe Rainoldi company is a winery in Lombardy, founded in 1925 by Aldo Rainoldi. Today the company is based in Chiuro, and is still run by the heirs of the Rainoldi family, with the main production of red wines based on the typical Valtellina grape variety: Nebbiolo. This is where a very special kind of viticulture is practised, almost defined as heroic, because the vineyards of the Rainoldi company and more generally throughout the Valtellina are practically suspended from the mountains, on spectacular terraces of dry stone walls.
Set among the woods, they enjoy excellent exposure to sunlight, a kind of Mediterranean maquis in the middle of the Alps, where cacti and agaves grow and olive trees are cultivated. On these lands it is almost impossible to introduce any kind of machinery for harvesting the grapes, which is why the harvest is exclusively manual.
This enhances the character and terroir of these wines, a range of products that spans from the classic Inferno, Sassella and Grumello, which mature for two years in Slavonian oak barrels, to the reserves of Sassella and Inferno, produced only in the best years and kept in the cellar to refine for three years before release.
