25 November 2019 To find out more, see Valtellina report - part 1 for a history of the region and 62 tasting notes, and Valtellina report - part 2 for an overview of the region today,
18 November 2019 We have just donated a surplus of £2,000 from our popular Greek Wine Night to the charity chosen by organiser Sofia Perpera Boroume, whose goal is to help eliminate food waste by distributing it to those in need. 'And we have so many in Greece', adds Sofia.
7 November 2019 Hot on the heels of our very successful Greek Wine Night, we are now offering you a chance to sample another great collection of wines assembled by one of our expert enthusiasts. Ar Pe Pe's vineyards are pictured.
Valtellina is a beautiful hidden corner in the mountainous north of Lombardy in Italy. Wine has been made here for at least 1,500 years, but owing to its isolated position just a stone’s throw south of Switzerland, its most important market for at least 500 years, the wines remained little known outside the region. In Valtellina, slopes are so steep they vie with the Mosel for constituting the most challenging viticulture in the world. Harvest is regularly done with the help of monorail, cable car, and sometimes even helicopter.
In this very fresh alpine climate the great Nebbiolo, called Chiavennasca here, is cultivated on the very margin where it can ripen fully. The superb southern exposition and slopes at times as steep as 65 degrees, with elevations ranging from 300 to well over 700 m (985–2,300 ft) results in a style of Nebbiolo that is strikingly different from any other: lithe yet structured and fine-perfumed.
This small wine region with vineyards on dry-stone-walled terraces stretches 45 km (28 miles) from west to east with five outstanding subzones or crus: Sassella, Grumello, Inferno, Valgella and the little-known Maroggio. These crus make for very long-lived complex wines while the Sforzato, a Nebbiolo made from air-dried grapes, is capable of conveying a clear expression of its rocky, alpine origin like no other dried-grape wine from Italy. I'm planning a tasting article to be published later this month.
Our wine tastings are designed to put the spotlight on wines and regions that deserve more attention and Valtellina is right up there with truly original wines made from one of the world’s finest red grape varieties. Our Valtellina Night gives you the unique possibility of tasting at least 20 wines (and more if I can manage it) from this jewel of a wine region handpicked by me – a range that has never even been presented to the wine trade. (See this 2007 overview of Valtellina with associated tasting notes – JR)
Tickets are £75 a head for all these wines, top-quality glasses, informative booklet and Caravan’s delicious food. No refunds, but if there is a waiting list we will do our best to find someone to take the ticket off your hands.
WHAT Valtellina Wine Night
WHEN 6.30–9 pm Sunday 1 December
WHERE Caravan King’s Cross, London N1C 4AA
HOW MUCH £75 a head
HOW Click here