Gianatti Giorgio is the man behind a tiny, family-run, winery located in the village of Montagna in Valtellina. Giorgio grew up right there, in the heart of the Grumello subzone, and knows the area intimately. Viticulture in Lombardia’s most northerly wine region is extreme and has rightfully earned the often abused moniker ‘heroic’. Along the slopes of the Alps, perfectly exposed to the south, the landscape has been shaped into 2,500 kilometers of terraces where grapevines grow in small plots, perched on precipitous slopes, held together by hand-built dry-stone walls.
Giorgio, born in 1962, was only 16 when he started to help his father in the vineyard. Back then, the wine was sold in bulk to local producers but in 1983 Giorgio was put in charge of the estate and, well aware of the potential of his terroir, decided to start bottling under his label. Through the years Giorgio acquired plot after plot and painstakingly restored them on a steep, arduous hillside in the outskirts of the city of Sondrio, a cru called Vigna Sassina.
Giorgio's utmost respect for the land and its preservation is evident through his approach to the vineyards. Treatments are kept to the bare minimum and are only used when strictly necessary for the survival of the fruit. Although he doesn't hold an official certification, Giorgio's farming practices follow organic standards. He grows grass cover crops between vines to provide nutrition to the soil and help prevent the risk of erosion and hangs pheromone capsules to disrupt parasites' reproductive hormonal system.
Giorgio's commendable dedication has rightfully earned him the nickname "L'uomo del Grumello" (the man of Grumello). His wines are a reflection of such commitment as they express this unique terroir with uncompromising rigor and pristine purity.
