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La Spia di Rigamonti Michele azienda Agricola

Small Valtellina family estate farming Chiavennasca on terraced Sassella slopes cleared from forest by the Rigamonti family in the 1960s, making structured alpine Nebbiolo with up to 30 months in oak.

The producer

La Spia is a family estate in Sassella, the westernmost sub-zone of Valtellina Superiore DOCG, on terraced southern slopes above the Adda river at the entrance to Sondrio. The Rigamonti family acquired the hillside in the 1960s, cleared decades of forest regrowth from the terraces, and replanted Nebbiolo. Michele Rigamonti made the first harvest in 2006. Winemaker Emil Galimberti oversees the cellar. The labels carry large-scale figurative paintings by Luca Pignatelli, a Milanese artist whose mixed-media work makes these bottles visually distinct from anything else on the Valtellina shelf.

Every red is 100 percent Chiavennasca, the Nebbiolo biotype native to Valtellina, grown on southwest-facing terraces between 300 and 420 metres. The flagship PG40 Sassella undergoes long skin maceration in steel, then up to 30 months in 10-hectoliter French oak and acacia barrels. It carries aromas of candied cherries, tobacco, earth, cedar and a hint of cocoa, with a firm acid line and polished tannins on the finish. Decanter awarded it a Platinum medal. The two principal reds are named for Michele's parents: PG40 carries his mother's initials and birth year, PR28 his father's.

Known for

Chiavennasca (Nebbiolo) from terraced Sassella DOCG vineyards, aged up to 30 months in oak

Notable facts

The story

The Spy on the Hill

When the Rigamonti family took possession of the hillside in Sassella in the 1960s, there was nothing to harvest. The terraces that had once grown Nebbiolo were buried under decades of forest regrowth. The family cleared the land, rebuilt the stone walls, and replanted the slope. Forty years passed between that first act of clearing and the moment Michele Rigamonti brought in the estate's first harvest in 2006. By then the lookout post at the top of the hill, used during the period of Grisons rule over Valtellina as a surveillance point above the Adda valley, had given the property its name: La Spia, the spy. The first bottles carried Pignatelli's painted labels. The terraces the family had spent a generation clearing are now the source of a Platinum-medal wine.

From the atlas

La Spia di Rigamonti Michele azienda Agricola

At A Glance

The Producer

La Spia is a small family estate in Sassella, the westernmost and arguably most storied sub-zone of Valtellina Superiore DOCG, on the terraced southern slopes above the Adda river at the entrance to Sondrio. Michele Rigamonti leads the estate. Winemaker Emil Galimberti oversees the cellar. The labels carry large-scale figurative paintings by Luca Pignatelli, a Milanese artist whose mixed-media work makes these bottles visually distinct from anything else on the Valtellina shelf.

La Spia farms 4.5 hectares and produces a single red grape: Nebbiolo, grown here as the Chiavennasca biotype, the form native to Valtellina and genetically distinct from Nebbiolo d'Alba. The estate made its first harvest in 2006 and now produces over 25,000 bottles each year.

Place

Valtellina is an east-west alpine valley in Lombardy, carved by the Adda river beneath the Rhaetian Alps. The vineyards face south and southwest, catching sun across terraced granite and schist slopes while cold mountain air keeps acidity high. This orientation is what makes Nebbiolo viable at altitude; without it, the grape would not ripen.

Sassella is the most westerly of the five Valtellina Superiore sub-zones. The DOCG rules require 90 percent Nebbiolo minimum; at La Spia the reds are 100 percent Chiavennasca. The sub-zone sits at the entrance of Sondrio, and its southwest-facing terraces run from approximately 300 to 420 metres above sea level. That elevation range slows ripening, extends the growing season, and pushes fruit concentration while preserving the firm acidity that defines Valtellina reds.

Soil And Site

The terraces at La Spia were not planted when the Rigamonti family acquired the hillside in the 1960s. Forest had grown over them. The family cleared the land and brought Nebbiolo back to the stone-walled plots. The terraces run on thin mountain soils over a base of gneiss and schist, well-drained and low in organic matter. That lean substrate is part of why Chiavennasca produces wines with more mineral austerity than floral generosity: the vine works hard, roots go deep, and the fruit carries the character of the rock rather than the richness of heavy clay.

Story

The Rigamonti family came into possession of a rocky hillside in Sassella in the 1960s. The terraces existed but were buried under forest. Clearing them was physical work that took years and preceded any winemaking by decades. Michele Rigamonti made the first harvest in 2006, completing a project that had begun in the previous generation.

Michele named his two principal wines for his parents. PG40 Sassella carries the initials of his mother, born in 1940. PR28 Valtellina Superiore carries the initials of his father, born in 1928. These are not label codes: both wines were named at inception and the labels have carried these identifiers ever since. The parental tribute is built into the range architecture permanently.

For the label art, Michele commissioned Luca Pignatelli, a Milanese figurative painter known for large-scale works on mixed media. The resulting bottles stand apart on any shelf in the region.

Vineyards And Cellar

PG40 Sassella grows on southwest-facing terraces at 300 to 420 metres. The Chiavennasca is macerated on skins in stainless steel tanks for an extended period, building tannin and extracting colour from a grape that, by nature, sits at the lighter end of the red wine spectrum in the glass but carries considerable grip on the palate. After maceration, the wine moves to 10-hectoliter oak barrels, a size that transfers gentle wood contact without overwhelming a wine of this scale, and ages for up to 30 months. Both French oak and acacia barrels are used. Acacia contributes less tannin than oak and preserves brighter fruit, so the barrel mix becomes a tool for managing texture alongside the long maceration.

Wines

The range is built on two DOCG reds and one experimental white.

PG40 Sassella DOCG is the flagship. One hundred percent Chiavennasca from the southwest terraces, it carries the longest maceration and the full 30-month barrel regime. On the record: aromas of candied cherries, tobacco, earth, cedar, and a hint of cocoa; 14.5 percent alcohol; tannins that are firm but polished after barrel time. Decanter awarded it a Platinum medal.

PR28 Valtellina Superiore DOCG honours Michele's father and sits as the second principal red in the range. The grape is the same Chiavennasca; the sub-zone designation is the broader Valtellina Superiore rather than the single-sub-zone Sassella label.

Castelàsc Bianco IGT Alpi Retiche is a deliberate detour. Nebbiolo vinified white, without skin contact, blended with Gewurztraminer, Moscato, and Sauvignon brought from Trentino Alto Adige, and fermented in terracotta amphorae. Castelàsc Bianco IGT Alpi Retiche is outside the DOCG framework.

In The Glass

Chiavennasca from Sassella opens with a perfume that is more mountain than southern: dried rose, sour cherry, tobacco leaf, a thread of cedar and earth beneath. The colour is translucent garnet, never dark or dense, which surprises first-time drinkers expecting something heavier at 14.5 percent alcohol. The palate is where the altitude and terracing declare themselves: bright acidity runs through the mid-palate, sharpening the cherry fruit and keeping the wine from feeling heavy. Tannins from long skin maceration are present but have rounded with barrel time, arriving as a firm grip that lingers on the finish rather than a hard edge at the front. Cedar and a hint of cocoa carry through from nose to close. The 2011 PG40 Sassella has balanced acidity and firm yet refined tannins.

A Bottle To Understand It

PG40 Sassella DOCG is the bottle to start with. It is the flagship, the bottle Decanter awarded Platinum, and the wine that concentrates every decision La Spia makes: the southwest terrace exposure, the extended skin maceration, the 30 months in 10-hectoliter oak. In the glass it delivers candied cherries and tobacco on the nose, a bright acid line through the palate, and a firm, cedar-edged finish. There is no shortcut here: the wine is a serious Valtellina Superiore that rewards proper serving temperature and patience, but it gives back considerably more than the effort costs.

Anecdote

When the Rigamonti family took possession of the hillside in Sassella in the 1960s, there was nothing to harvest. The terraces that had once grown Nebbiolo were buried under decades of forest regrowth. The family cleared the land, restored the stone walls, and replanted the slope. Forty years passed between that first act of clearing and the moment Michele Rigamonti brought in the estate's first harvest in 2006. By then the lookout post at the top of the hill, used during the period of Grisons rule over Valtellina as a strategic surveillance point over the Adda valley, had given the property its name: La Spia, the spy. The first bottles carried that name and the Pignatelli label art. The terraces that the family had spent a generation clearing are now the source of a Platinum-medal wine.

Final Word

La Spia is a small estate doing concentrated work in one of Lombardy's most demanding vine-growing landscapes. The wines are built for the table and for time: firm Chiavennasca from high terraces, long in the barrel, carrying the mineral austerity of alpine Nebbiolo. The PG40 Sassella is the entry point.

Sources

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