Canua: How Sfurzat di Valtellina Evolves

Lo Sforzato (or Sfurzat, as it is called locally) is the most characteristic and distinctive wine of Valtellina. It is obtained after a long drying of Chiavennasca grapes (as the people of Valtellina call Nebbiolo), which are left on wooden frames covered with reeds arranged in parallel and held together by transverse bindings. These frames are placed in dedicated rooms until January and, in some harvests, even until the first days of March. The dry cold of winter causes the grapes to lose between 30 and 40 percent of their weight, concentrating the tannins, sugars, and aromatic profile.

Conti Sertoli Salis produces a great Sfurzat, the Canua. The wine, after the drying of the grapes, ferments in steel and wood. The high sugar density of the must (approximately 30%) leads to a slowing of the fermentation process. For this reason the must remains in contact with the skins for over two weeks and, at the end of fermentation, the wine regularly exceeds 15% alcohol. After racking, the wine rests in oak barrique and tonneau for two years and in bottle for a further 12 months.
Let us see how we experienced the two samples tasted.

Sforzato della Valtellina Canua 2008

It presents itself with a light ruby robe with a garnet rim, and on the nose it offers enticing notes of rose, cherry jam, and plum, followed by thyme and further spiced hints of vanilla and cinnamon, liquorice, and minerals on the finish. On the palate, the enormous tannin and the bracing acidity strike up a fine competition with the approximately 15 degrees of alcohol. Not yet in balance, the wine is decidedly in an evolutionary phase and displays a gustatory-olfactory persistence measurable in minutes. Great is the horizon that lies before it.

Sforzato della Valtellina Canua 2004

A wine of garnet colour with orange hues, on the nose we perceive sensual ethereal fragrances that then open to an olfactory spectrum ranging from dried flowers to wild berry jam, from sweet tobacco to nutmeg, from chocolatey tones to a finish of eucalyptol. An enormous palate with a considerable tannic structure and a significant acidity, now well tamed by time and balanced by the alcohol and softness, which place the wine in perfect equilibrium. A condition of maturity that we believe can last for many more years. Very long the aromatic finish with evident balsamic returns.

A ten-year-old wine, in excellent condition for integrity and pleasurability, and one that still promises much in the future.