The past four months have been the most interesting of times for us at The Bookshelf. We have delivered books and very tasty wine from Organized Crime Winery to our customers in Guelph. The roads have been quiet and we have had fun serving Guelph's taste for great books and wine. In light of our experience with high quality wine from the Niagara Region, we have decided to add boutique Italian wine to our offerings. 

I would like to introduce you to an incredible Italian wine producer Mamete Provostini. Mamete Prevostini began as a wine producer just after the war when the founder and grandfather of the current owners, the eponymous Mamete Prevostini, began making wines to serve to the customers of his Ristorante Crotasc not far from Lake Como. He made the wines from the local Nebbiolo and stored it in natural caves or crotto beneath the vineyards

In 2013 Mamete Prevostini, designed, built and opened the first winery to be certified Casaclima Wine in Lombardy: carbon neutral cellars for the production of wines of Valtellina with zero environmental impact, in the fantastic natural setting of the terraced vineyards of Valtellina. This innovation shows that the tradition of local wines in Valtellina is perfectly in keeping with sustainability. Mamete is in charge and has fundamentally revamped the winemaking approach, to the extent of closing down for eight years between 1987 and 1995 to make root and branch changes. The 8.5 hectares of south-facing vineyard sit at 400 metres altitude above the town of Sondrio at San Lorenzo in the heart of the Sassella DOCG. The wines are 100% Nebbiolo and undergo only 8 days fermentation in stainless-steel tanks and then spend 12 months in oak before bottling.

WHY WE LOVE THEM

It’s no secret that we have a passion for Nebbiolo. Those that are familiar with the grape probably tend to think of Nebbiolo from the Piemonte region (Barolo, Barbaresco, etc), however Lombardia has its own unique spin on this grape and Mamete Prevostini is one of the leaders of the pack. Mamete Prevostini is situated at the base of the Swiss Alps with its vineyards set in among terraced slopes that all need to be picked by hand due to the steep angle of the hillsides.

Mamete’s Nebbiolo has an elegance and femininity to it, compared to Nebbiolo from Southern Piemonte. In this area, they also work with a unique treatment of Nebbiolo called Sforzato, in which the Nebbiolo grapes are dried out on racks and then pressed in a similar fashion to Amarone. We hope you enjoy these beautiful Nebbiolos as much as we do.

The Botonero Terrazze Retiche di Sondrio IGT 2018 (Nebbiolo) is an incredible medium bodied wine. Please check out our wine selection here.

Some wonderful pictures of the winery.