Dislivelli

Sondrio, Valtellina, Italy

Set high on the steep terraces of Valtellina, Dislivelli is the personal project of architect Piero Ioli, launched with its first vintage in 2020. The vineyards are a clear example of heroic viticulture: narrow, hand-built terraces on dramatic mountain slopes where no machinery can operate. The vines are planted directly into fractured schist and exposed rock, forcing deep root systems and naturally limiting yields. Every task, from pruning to harvest, is carried out by hand.

Ioli works tiny parcels totalling 1.8 hectares across three of the valley’s historic crus — Sassella, Grumello, and Inferno. Despite this, his wines are bottled outside the appellation system, as his wines go beyond conventional DOC regulations and ‘textbook’ Valtellina profiles. His focus is not typicity in a regulatory sense, but rather an obsessive desire to express the essence of alpine Nebbiolo in its purest sense (the grape locally known as Chiavennasca).

In the vineyard, Ioli arguably pushes natural farming further than anyone else in the valley. The vineyards are never ploughed, and in some vintages such as 2022 he does not apply a single spray. Since 2020 has been doing his best to encourage full biodiversity across his sites. Grasses, wild plants, and insect life are integral to the ecosystem, and the health of the soil is central to his approach. The aim is resilience and balance rather than control.

His cellar work is equally uncompromising. Fermentations take place with no additions at any stage. Macerations are unusually long, lasting between 90 and 200 days in clay amphorae. The wines are then aged in his underground cellar in Clayver amphoras for slow, stable development. Attention to detail is meticulous, yet the process is guided by intuition rather than any formal oenological training.

Ioli often references the wines of his grandfather as an inspiration - they were more traditional but never aged in wood, and had a delicate and lifted vibrancy that has guided Piero on his choices. In many ways, Dislivelli builds on that memory, translating it into a contemporary but deeply rooted expression. Though unquestionably unique, the resulting wines very much retain the soul of the Nebbiolo grape. They are structured yet refined, transparent to site, and marked by a tension and delicacy that should define the ultimate potential of alpine Nebbiolo.