Le Strie

The Le Strie winery is a small producer of great red wines from the Valtellina area. Since 1997 Luciana, Marisa, Paolo and Stefano have been running the business with the sole intention of offering wines that are faithful expressions of the territory. This business was born from the passion of these two couples, one from Rome and one from Veneto, who, after moving to this fantastic area of Lombardy, decided to buy just over one hectare. It is a passion that over time has turned into a job, so much so that in 2017 Stefano decided to commit himself solely to the vineyard, leaving his business. Even the choice of the winery's name is associated with this area: Le Strie ("the witches" in the local dialect) in fact refers to the various legends and traditions surrounding witches in the Valtellina area during the 16th century. An extraordinary English painting, which has been reinterpreted by the winery, depicts a witch and is printed on the label of each bottle.

The vineyard covers an area of just over one hectare between the sub-zones of Valgella and Sassella, at an altitude ranging from 300 to 650 metres and with a southern exposure. The main vine variety in the area is Nebbiolo, locally called Chiavennasca, which is trained by the Guyot method on characteristic terraces supported by dry stone walls. The vines draw nourishment from sandy, gravel-rich, shallow soils. Some of the vines date back to the 1940s and 1950s, while others are completely ungrafted. The production philosophy of Le Strie follows two fundamental principles: maximum care and the quest for excellence. For this reason, all activities in the vineyard, as well as in the cellar, are carried out with the utmost respect for the environment: chemical treatments limited to a small use of sulphur and copper, the tiring manual harvesting of the bunches on the terraces and the low yields per hectare guarantee the growth of extremely high quality grapes.

In the cellar, fermentation is carried out in stainless steel, followed by maturation in large oak casks and very long ageing in the bottle. In the case of Valtellina Superiore, this can take up to 10 years. Since 2009, Le Strie has been using indigenous yeasts and trying to reduce the amount of added sulphites as much as possible, carving out a place for itself among artisanal producers who produce wines just like in the old times. This results in powerful expressions, with great aromatic elegance and considerable ageing potential, which are never soft and enveloping, but rather mineral, pleasantly tannic and deep. Among the winery's flagship products are the Sforzato and Valtellina Superiore, made from grapes that have been completely or partially dried. These are traditional, full-bodied and complex wines that reveal the most authentic side of the Valtellina territory.