The places of Valtellina's wine

Wine, “nectar of the gods” according to ancient texts, is a drink that is rich with indelible meaning that speak to the ingeniousness, the tenacity and the passion of man who, through the centuries, has learned to domesticate hostile lands like those of the Alpine regions, rendering them hospitable and productive. 

The extraordinary landscape of our terraced vineyards - a bonafide “document” of our mountain culture - is in fact an expression of an ancient practice, which respects the fragility and delicacy of the mountainsides and testifies to the complex interaction between nature and human society, which become the values of tradition. A landscape that becomes an “historical place,” because it comes to represent a multiplicity of tastes, of a robust territorial and culture  identity to preserve. But also “the place of the present” which is able to convey emotion and where important choices for the future are played out. 

The curated “historical narrative” which accompanies the Reader through The Places of the Wine of Valtellina - the volume being gifted to Members of the assembly of the bank in April of 2019 -, fruit of a long and deep research of the architect Dario Benetti and realized in a special edition with the “Editorial Cooperative Quaderni Valtellinesi, interprets well the genuine local engagement that the Popolare of Sondrio - from its foundation in 1871, almost 150 years ago-, in its capacity as a bank of the territory and for the territory, addresses to the safekeeping, to the promotion and to the divulgation of the uniqueness of the values of their homeland. An engagement that, as highlighted well by Professor Marco Vitale in his lucid and analytic introduction “...it is therefore ancient and profound and sinks its roots into the mission that is proper of her to promote the territory and the productive activity of the Valley, but also the convection that the vineyards of the Rhaetian slope are a synthesis and a banner of the best of the values of the Valtellina…”. 

After all, throughout its history the “Popolare” has always sustained and nurtured a sense of community; the first bank in Valtellina, established to provide credit to its Members and to allocate savings to the development of the local Alpine economy, it has uninterruptedly sought to make its vocation concrete, permeated with the cooperative spirit of Luzzattian memory. In this regard, it is pleasing to recall how Carlo Bressan, the institute's first president, in the final pages of the Resoconto dell'Adunanza Generale dei Soci held on March 3, 1872, urged the wine-producing members to establish the “Società Enologica Valtellinese”, a society for the promotion of wine from the Valtellina, in Sondrio.

Over the years, our participatory link with wine culture and cultivation has been increasingly strengthened, thanks to significant publishing initiatives and the organization of important conferences. Actions all aimed at raising the awareness of an increasingly widespread and attentive public, as well as supporting the important wine-growing sector, with the awareness that the character and flavor of our delicious wines originates from excellent grapes and from care as finely executed as it is arduous, as well as from the right balance - which has become more and more harmonious over the centuries - between climate, vine and soil; but, first and foremost, from an act of love for one's land.

It is a microcosm that the Maestro Olmi, unforgettable poet of the image, in his journeys among the cliffs, traditions and culture of our Valley, with profound sensibility and vision, knew how to photograph admirably. In the scenes of Cliffs of Wine - a documentary from 2009 dedicated to the world of heroic Valtellinese viticulture - emerges, in fact, such “love” that originates from a path of wisdom that is made up also of friendship, of convivality, of taste and of joy. And it is built on the spiritual dimension of the men and the women and Valtellina and Valchiavenna who, generation after generation, with diligence and knowledge, following an archaic ritual sense, engaged positively with their environment, pulling these wines from the mountains. Because where there is the wine, there is civilization and wine - this is the message - is something that must be “taken care of.” 

Ours is a land that truly has a lot to offer and that can be enhanced in a responsible and sustainable way, which preserves and promotes it, thus also giving space to those young people - and they are not few - who, putting themselves on the line, are passionately devoting themselves to reviving mountain agriculture.

The “territory-wine” binomial, a strong component of the ecosystem of the province of Sondrio, constitutes a cultural, symbolic and value-focused potential, besides its economic power, is of exceptional richness. It is a common good, towards which - with respect to tradition - we feel we have precise responsibilities.

We trust that our Readers, in admiring our terraced lands through a renewed lens, might grasp in their beauty the multiple signs of a great collective work, testament of history and of the work of man, signs that every year are renewed with the rite of the harvest.

We conclude with a quote from Ermanno Olmi who, with his good-natured smile, to once again express existential values in a synthetic way, observes: “And while the crates were being filled with contentment, from the rows of the vines rose songs of celebration almost as if a rite of thanksgiving was being carried out to express gratitude for a well-earned prize. The pressing was a celebration for all: wishes of abundance and assurance for survival. Wine is an irreplaceable offering for a guest, an invitation to companionship, to peaceful conviviality. Wine is a drink to be consumed while also being a substance of sacredness.”