Nino Negri Inferno Valtellina Superiore 2022

Nino Negri has made wine in Chiuro since 1897 and remains the leading estate of the Valtellina, Lombardy's Alpine valley where Nebbiolo goes by its local name, Chiavennasca. Inferno is the most bluntly named of the Valtellina Superiore subzones, and it earns it: dry-stone terraces climb steep, south-facing slopes where rocky outcrops reflect the sun by day and release its heat into the night, and the shallow, sandy, low-vigor soils demand that every task be done by hand, what the Italians call viticoltura eroica. Destemmed fruit macerates for about eight days and ferments in steel, followed by two years split between oak and bottle before release. Garnet in the glass, with plum, blackberry, dried roses, resin, and spice over a full-flavored, dry palate and a finish edged in hazelnut. Mountain Nebbiolo at its most vivid.