Ornella Correggia, Matteo's widow, was my gracious hostess. Next, she posed with her adorable dog Trudi -- too squirmy to capture on film!

Ornella provided a geological history of the Roero. Her visual aid was her son's elementary school report, which shows how much of northern Italy was once under water. (Notice Alba and the Langhe hills had already emerged from the sea -- thus the difference between Roero and Langhe wines.)

The lovely Marina Olwen Fogarty was my hostess at VALLANA in Alto Piemonte. Marina and her brother are now running the show, so with this new generation the 80-year-old winery is experiencing a new burst of energy and a reappearance on the US market. Great wines (Spanna, Boca, Gattinara) for very good prices.

Demijohns are a sign of Vallana's bulk-wine past, which it still carries on for some local old-timers.

Part of the line-up that Marina poured for me in this wine library. Notice the Gattinara on the left is a 1986 vintage. An awesome tasting.

Next, it's on to Valtellina, an alpine valley in Lombardy, just south of Switzerland. Here, the center of the wine world is Chiuro. This valley runs east-west, one of only six in the Alps to do so. Looking at these cooler north-facing slopes, all you see is woods. Turn around, and there's acres of vines on ancient stone terraces.

Look closely, and you'll see vineyard terraces painted behind these saints -- part of the Valtellina landscape since the Liguri people (contemporaries of the Etruscans) came north from the Riviera and taught them terrace-building techniques.

And here's the real deal: granite stone terraces made millennia ago, and topped with river soil carried up from the valley floor.

Killing time before my appointment at Nino Negri, I drove up in the hills and spotted this church down a quiet lane.

There I encountered a couple going to work in their vineyard. They couldn't get over the fact that a New Yorker had come all this way. They invited me along, and I was happy to walk with them awhile through their cherry grove and vineyards

Fresh-picked cherries from their tree. Delicious!

Nino Negri's front door in a Renaissance-era castle.

Old signage for Negri's nebbiolo from Inferno, one of five important subzones in Valtellina. (It's called inferno because the hill is so steep, so rocky, so full of cactus spines that it was hell for the vineyards workers to labor there.)

Matteo Boiserio, agronomist at Nino Negri, shows me around their various vineyards that dot the Valtellina valley.

The castle that lords over the Grumello subzone. (A rooster sculpture in the window must have lost its way from Chianti.)

Tiny cactus, prickly pear, and heat-loving rosemary all grow in Valtellina--signs of how hot the south-facing slopes get in the summertime. That's good for nebbiolo.

The fruttaia, or grape-drying loft, of Nino Negri, where grapes lay on mats for 100 days after harvest to make their Sforzat, an Amarone-like wine. Its perch on the hill lets in a daily afternoon breeze coming up the valley from Lake Como.

Nino Negri's oldest vineyards in the Francia subzone -- the only ones that maintain the old up-down vine orientation.

Enologist Casimiro Maule is top dog at Nino Negri, and generously spent a good part of the day with me -- plus dinner, pouring a mind-blowing selection of wines.

Traces of giant tanks on the floor next to French barrique show how Nino Negri has evolved since the 1980s, when the whole Valtellina wine industry fell into crisis.

Two of Nino Negri's entry-level nebbiolos. Great alpine character, great value.

My final visit in Valtellina was at AR.PE.PE., a winery that rose like a phoenix from the ashes of an older family estate.

The founder's daughter, Isabella Pelizzatti Perego, was my host.

Ar.Pe.Pe's new digs sit just below Grumello, which also holds some of Nino Negri's vines.

An oculus in the Ar.Pe.Pe nifty winery, designed by Isabella's husband.

Heading up the ancient terraces, I say, "I hope your workers have good insurance." (They do; Italian health care is nationalized.)

Isabella demonstrates the winery's harvest box-cum-backpack, used for schlepping grapes down the steep terraces.

Ar.Pe.Pe's entry-level Rosso di Valtellina is the one I see most in NYC -- and the one that attracted my interest in the first place.

Lunch on my final day in Valtellina. Locally made bresaola, prosciutto, and cheese. Yum.