Dislivelli | Valtellina
Gian Piero Ioli is an architect. In 2020, he embarked on a personal project cultivating vines and making wine from the steep Alpine hills in Valtellina that shaped his life and that of his forebears. Thus, Dislivelli was born.
“It’s not a simple change of direction from my profession, but rather a natural extension of it: a place where design meets landscape, where mountains are lived and soil is cultivated, where mountaineering merges with extreme viticulture.”
Gian Piero’s family history is deeply rooted in the mountains of Valtellina. His uncle, Peppino Mitta, was a true alpinist. His legacy was etched in the annals of mountaineering when he, along with his buddies Cesare Folatti and Luigi Bombardieri, became the first men to conquer the icy vertical gully of the terrifying Forcola d’Argient in 1933.
Growing up, Gian Piero learned from his uncle Peppino to pay attention to the importance of silence, effort and respect for the fragile balance involved in mountaineering. His grandfather Bortolo, a consummate mountain farmer of Nebbiolo grapes, instilled another nascent passion in him: wine-growing. Gian Piero trailed Bortolo season after season until the rhythm of nebbiolo vineyard and its vinification was ingrained. He had since understood that making wine requires walking in step with the vines instead of controlling it.
“The [Dislivelli] project takes shape on steep slopes, in the baffo subzone of Sassella, at an altitude between 400 and 450 meters, above the historic cru of Rocce Rosse, in the dialectal localities of trigioeu and pizzamëa. Here, a radical idea comes to life: cultivating nebbiolo in challenging conditions, letting the mountain — not man — shape the wine.”
Going far beyond organics or biodynamics and working entirely by hand, Gian Piero extends the philosophy in the cellar by adopting natural vinification with minimal intervention. Relentless vigilance and a god-like patience are required every step of the way, but he has been ready for years.
Dislivelli captures our imagination because of the singularity and purity of its purpose. There is no further objective than expressing nature’s truth and, along with it, its unrepeatable, often unexpected, beauty. Dislivelli espouses an idea of wine so elemental that it is essential, so basic that it is radical.
“Each vintage is unique, shaped by its year, its climate, its time. Every bottle is a sincere testimony to the place it comes from. It’s what I like to call a ‘spontaneous’ alpine nebbiolo. It comes into being on its own, almost without intervention — as if the mountain itself had found a voice in the glass.”
Wine trends come and go, fueled by human’s restless itch for newness, exarcebated by our short attention span. Calling Dislivelli cult or unicorn is convenient, but it is grossly insufficient. Gian Piero’s dedication to his cause at all costs yields wines as singular as his passion, and as breathtaking as the geological contours they grow in. Above all, Dislivelli showcases a perspicacious vinous prototype that gleefully floats within the liminal space between purity and beauty. Tasting the wines, you’ll believe it.
Who could have expected Nebbiolo this pure and luminous, so florally perfumed, lavishly red-fruited and weightless? This is an Alpine Nebbiolo stripped to its essence and all the more enthralling because of it. The electricity of the wine is grounded by a calming persistence. As a nebbiolo — even as wine — it is groundbreaking, and captivating. As one out of only 4,000 bottles produced, it is a rare but important exemplar of otherworldliness.
“Dislivelli is the sum of my experiences, the values I inherited, and a desire to give voice to a mountain that should not only be crossed — but understood, inhabited, and respected.”
Natural beauty is at times confounding, but it is always enduring and true, transcending ephemeral fads. A glass of Dislivelli is one such moment. It makes you think. It makes you feel. It makes you grateful that you love wine.
