Sforzato di Valtellina, also called Sfursat, is a Nebbiolo-led red wine made from dried grapes.
Drying the harvested grapes is central to Sforzato’s identity.
Sforzato begins in Valtellina’s mountain vineyards, with Nebbiolo, locally called Chiavennasca, as its principal grape. The grapes undergo drying before vinification. The setting is the terraced alpine valley, where dry-stone walls hold vineyard slopes above the Adda. Sfursat di Valtellina is the alternative protected name for this same wine.
The grapes undergo appassimento before vinification. The wine then requires twenty months of aging and refinement, including at least twelve months in wooden casks. That period is counted from April 1 of the year after the harvest. Drying the grapes and aging the wine are distinct stages of the process.
The grape area lies in Sondrio province, chiefly on the Adda’s right-bank slopes between Ardenno and Tirano, with specifically delimited areas on the opposite bank as well.
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