Our resident Italophile Tadd Tanji recently told us that, while he still professes an undying love of the wines of ArPePe, the crown jewel property of Lombardia’s Valtellina, he’s having an intense fling with Alfio Mozzi’s gorgeous Sassella.

And why not? Not only is it just about every bit as good as anything made at ArPePe, it’s a much cheaper date! Grown high on the Valtellina slopes of the Swiss pre-Alps, this is as elegant and refined as the Nebbiolo grape (locally called Chiavennasca) gets.

Alfio, a one-man show with a tiny cellar and only 3.5 hectares of vines, keeps it simple in the winery—fermentation and maceration in very small steel tanks and aging in large French oak botti—and shows a much prettier, more charming side to the grape. But elegance does not necessarily preclude depth, and that’s what Tadd (and now the rest of us) found so entrancing about Mozzi’s Sassella. The aromatics are so pure and focused—Bing cherry, dried tobacco, wild herb and buttery leather—and the palate so very lithe and polished. But, with air and in a big glass, the wine truly blossoms with violet pastilles, cedar, cinnamon and more, all revolving around a core of lovely fruit. It’s like, we thought, Volnay had appeared in Lombardy! Simply gorgeous. And, we’re betting, very age-worthy as well.

Winter stew on the menu? This should be your wine. And you can buy two bottles for the price of one ArPePe. Sorry ArPePe. We still love you, but …