Marco Ferrari’s Valtellina Superiore Inferno 2023 is a mountain Nebbiolo built on old vines and patient, low-intervention cellar work. Ferrari launched his estate in 2019 in Montagna in Valtellina (Sondrio), farming about two hectares of steep alpine terraces by hand using organic methods. Inferno is one of his two flagship Valtellina Superiore wines, sourced from some of his oldest vines—reported as 80+ years—on south-facing terraces around 450–490 meters in the Inferno subzone, a warmer pocket of the valley known for producing a more powerful expression of Chiavennasca (Nebbiolo).

In the cellar, Ferrari ferments with native yeasts in stainless steel and uses significant whole cluster in 2023 (reported at about 70%), followed by aging around 16–18 months in neutral 500-liter oak tonneaux. The wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered, with minimal sulfur reported. Production is tiny; 20Italie’s Pino Perrone cites roughly 2,500 bottles in 2023, down from the prior year, reflecting a warm, low-yield season.

The most notable professional review to date is an excellent 96-point assessment from Vinous. Antonio Galloni calls it “the most complete wine I have tasted from Marco Ferrari,” highlighting “soaring aromatics and silky tannins” that “immediately convey finesse.” He describes a layered, savory-leaning profile—“dark red/purplish fruit, menthol, blood orange, cinnamon, new leather and tobacco”—and concludes, “All the elements are so well balanced.”

In a narrative tasting, Perrone (20Italie) frames the 2023 as “austere… fresh and elegant,” emphasizing unexpectedly refined tannins and a distinctly alpine register, with notes including green pepper, licorice, gentian, and mountain herbs. Taken together, the picture is of an Inferno that delivers the cru’s natural structure, but in a style aimed at clarity and lift rather than sheer weight.