Valtellina Wine and Bresaola Tour

The Valtellina Wine and Bresaola Tour is a full-day excursion into Sondrio province in northern Lombardy, the long alpine valley of the Adda river that runs east to west along the foot of the Rhaetian Alps near the Swiss border. Valtellina is one of Italy's most dramatic wine landscapes, where Nebbiolo, known here as Chiavennasca, is grown on steep terraces held up by hundreds of kilometres of dry-stone walls, a form of heroic viticulture that must be worked largely by hand. A typical tour visits a Valtellina wine producer to taste the local appellations: the four named subzones of Valtellina Superiore DOCG, Sassella, Grumello, Inferno and Valgella, and the distinctive Sforzato di Valtellina, or Sfursat, a powerful dry red made from grapes partially dried after harvest in the same way as Amarone. The visit usually pairs the wines with the valley's most famous food product, bresaola della Valtellina IGP, the lean air-dried beef cured in the cool mountain air, often sampled at or near a producer to see how the meat is salted, aged and sliced paper-thin. Many tours add a demonstration or tasting of pizzoccheri, the hearty buckwheat pasta layered with cabbage, potato and Valtellina Casera cheese that defines mountain cooking here. Pricing generally runs from one hundred twenty to one hundred eighty euros per person for the full day, reflecting the distance from the main cities and the combination of winery, curing facility and meals or tastings included; transport, the guide and the tastings are typically covered, while incidental purchases are not. Groups are usually small, and departures are commonly offered in English alongside Italian. The valley's altitude and terraced terrain make for a scenic drive, and the day is paced to allow for travel between the vineyards, the bresaola producer and a tasting of regional dishes. The experience suits food and wine enthusiasts and more adventurous travellers willing to journey beyond Milan and the lakes to reach an alpine corner of Lombardy where the wine, the cured beef and the buckwheat cooking all grow directly out of the mountain environment, and where the steep terraces tell the story of generations of demanding hillside farming.