Pietro Selva
Each of my wines is different from the other, even though they are made from the very same raw material.
Pietro Selva welcomes us to his Valtellina winery: the umbilical cord binding him to a past where his roots run deep.
In our minds, there are certain questions that have an almost automatic answer.
Like when we ask ourselves what the most prestigious wine tourism destinations in our country are: Tuscany, Piedmont, Veneto and Sicily. Four regions which, whilst they undoubtedly merit our fullest attention, also risk overshadowing hundreds of others producing equally interesting wines.
Like Valtellina, where we will soon discover an incredible Forzato.
Forzato is one of Pietro Selva's prestigious wines. Try it now together with the winery's other reds and be amazed.
But let us proceed in order.
We are in Castione Andevenno, where an enthusiastic Pietro Selva awaits us to visit the whole of his winery estate.
Perfect! - I shout to Pietro as we clamber into the back of his Cobra.
The greeting is brief: there is no need to tarry by the roadside, we have to go straight to the vineyards.
The hands with which Pietro grips the steering wheel are powerful and marked by hard work. They are reminiscent of those of Lucas Amaral's father in the Azores.
The pick-up truck wends its way up hairpin bends that leave little margin for error, as we negotiate a series of cascading terraces, clinging to the steep slopes that surround us on every side.
Pietro Selva is taking us to his first vineyard: Dosso del Cuculo, in the Rosso di Valtellina area.
His smile conceals a natural shyness, his tone of voice a boyish enthusiasm, while the sparkle in his eyes is a window onto what lies ahead.
The Valtellina produces reds that are unjustly underrated: they are just as delicate and balanced as any great Burgundy, he exclaims happily as soon as we step onto his land.
Before us rises a wall of five terraces, climbing from 460 to 500 metres above sea level, with slopes exceeding 35%.
This is the land his parents bought more than 50 years ago, the land where Pietro grew up and which has worked since childhood.
This vineyard is dear to my heart.
It is his pride and joy: the umbilical cord binding him to the past where his roots run deep.
He tells us his father has always been a farmer, but has never made wine.
Therefore, the colossal enterprise Pietro devotes himself to with inexhaustible passion is no external push received from his family, but rather an inexorable draw coming from within.
A powerful attraction towards the vineyard and its fruit.
As we trudge up the slope, we experience a fraction of the effort and dogged persistence required to work these lands.
With forty-degree temperatures, the sun beating down on our heads and very much out of breath, we listen to Pietro who, with a disarming freshness and enthusiasm, tries to convey to us what it means to work in the vineyard in Valtellina.
Just imagine, during the grape harvest, having to take this route, up and down ladders, with a Brenta on your shoulders.
We have no idea what a Brenta is.
It is a cylindrical plastic container that holds up to 45 kg of grapes. In the past they used the so-called 'gerla', a flat-backed, conical pannier made of woven hazel twigs.
We are astonished and speechless to think that since 2010, Pietro has been visiting his seven organic vineyards with seraphic meticulousness each and every day; single-handedly tending to them and listening to his vines to gauge their every change of mood and state. Seven vineyards: one in the Rosso di Valtellina area, four in the Valtellina Superiore area and two in the Sassella area.
We then climb back into his Cobra to drive the 3 km that separate us from the largest vineyard: Costiera delle Cicale, which covers about half a hectare of land in the Valtellina Superiore DOCG production area.
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We find ourselves back inside a labyrinthine vineyard, which snakes its way along eight terraces that are not easily accessible.
This is where the daily miracles take place.
Words are not enough to describe the fatigue that Pietro is obliged to shoulder every day.
Simona's face is suddenly buffeted by a strong wind whipping up from the valley: a typical characteristic of this area, which, combined with the rock-rich soil, imposes a relatively low grape yield.
Pietro tells us that since 2017, following six years of studies and experiments, his entire production has been organic. The high standards of quality he has set himself drive him every year to produce wines that are always new and constantly evolving.
My wines are all different from each other even though they come from neighbouring areas and even though they are made from the same raw material. That is why I like to diversify and give a precise identity to the different areas. Otherwise I could make 4000 bottles of a single wine, but that wouldn't be in the least rewarding for me.
I am really curious to taste his wines and can't wait to get to what he calls his micro-cellar where I make my oenological jewels: Dosso del Cuculo, which is aged one year in the oldest barriques; Costiera delle Cicale, which is aged for three years, almost entirely in barrels;
Sassella, which is aged for three years in barriques; and Selvatico which, on the other hand, is aged for four years.
An alchemist's workshop.
A thespian's stage with walls the colour of a theatrical grand drape.
Pietro moves clambers deftly amongst the barriques and barrels, a wine thief and glasses clutched in his hands.
Smiling, he pours us his rosé of which only 300 bottles are produced.
A wine that envelops us with scents of wild strawberries, fresh and extremely adaptable to food pairings. What a pleasure it is to drink it!
Pietro produces a total of 4,000 bottles. All bottled and labelled entirely by hand.
This youthful 44-year-old lives with a passion which he imparts to all his wines.
Wines with unique and different personalities, wines that have given us a taste of an honest Valtellina, which speaks with the voice of its land.
Sitting around the table, we taste all of his wines and are particularly taken by two labels of which Pietro is enormously proud.
The first is Costiera delle Cicale. With no more than 2,500 bottles produced, it comes from the largest vineyard we have visited: 0.5 hectares on eight terraces ranging from 480 to 530 metres above sea level.
A Valtellina superiore DOCG riserva, it is made from 90% Nebbiolo Chiavennasca, 5% Rossola and 5% Pignola grapes and matured for three years, 50% in barrels and 50% in barriques.
Fruity, smooth, fine, delicate and elegant, I can taste the dragon's blood plums I used to eat as a child. It also tastes of ripe red fruit and blueberries, and I can taste the mountains as well.
This wine has the power to bring back memories of times past. It is a truly thrilling wine.
Forzato is the second label we taste. An incredibly honest, interesting and rather atypical wine, it is produced in no more than 700 bottles. Forzato tells of the daily challenges required to produce it. It is a fresh and elegant Sforzato, less full-bodied but with a great deal of energy and liveliness.
Made from 100 per cent Nebbiolo Chiavennasca grapes, it undergoes a three-month drying process of the grapes, a long maceration on the skins of 55 days and a 22-month ageing period in almost 20-year-old barriques.
What a wine!
It's an absolute delight! are Simona's words after tasting it.
I, on the other hand, am left speechless, partly because of all the emotions we have just tasted and partly because I realise it is already time for us to take our leave.
Being able to immerse ourselves in Peter's life has been a rare privilege and a valuable lesson.
Visiting some of his vineyards, we have been able breathe in the self-same passion that every day drives him up and down rickety steps and battered walls.
Pietro is a real person, with no frills or unnecessary formalities. With his ever present magnificent smile, he opened his home to us and welcomed us as friends. He made us feel special, just like everything else we have discovered in his magical Valtellina.
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