Valle d’Aosta Undiscovered Gem in the Italian Alps
Valle d’Aosta is Italy’s smallest region, located in the north-western corner of the country. The region is basically an immense box canyon enclosed on three sides by the Italian/French & Italian/Swiss Alps, with the Beautiful DoraBalteaRiver running down the middle. At the very end of the valley, like a backdrop for the entire region, sits the Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc for those who see it from the French side!), Europe’s highest mountain! As you travel up the valley towards Monte Bianco, you’ll encounter a series of incredible fortress castles, clinging to the mountainsides. Each one of these castles is just close enough to the next one to allow them (during Barbarian invasions and other medieval emergencies) to launch a kind of chain reaction alarm (kind of a Lord of the Rings – Gondor to Rohan type thing!). Wine in Valle d’Aosta
Lining the mountainsides in between the castles are rows and rows of drywall terraced vineyards, where Valle d’Aosta’s rare and incredible alpine wines are produced. As far as winemaking is concerned, the valley can be divided into 3 sections: 1. Starting in the south we have the “bassa valle” (lower valley), where great Nebbiolo (also used in Piedmont for making Barolo & Barbaresco) based red wines are produced. These Nebbiolos are labelled under the names Donnas and Arnad-Montjovet. Your best bet for tasting a Donnas is looking for wines produced by the Coop – Caves Cooperatives de Donnas. This coop basically groups together a handful of tiny local growers that would otherwise be simply too small to produce more than a few bottles a year. If you’re lucky you just might be able to get your hands on an Arnad-Montjovet produced by Bonin – a tiny local winemaker producing a total of 10,000 bottles a year. 2. As you move farther north into middle section of the valley you’ll begin to find wines labelled under the denominations Torrette, Chambave and Nus, produced with some of Valle d’Aosta’s native grape varieties such as Petit Rouge, Fumin and Premetta for the reds – Malvoisie and Muscat for the whites (Muscat and Malvoisie are also used to produce rare and amazing dessert wines called Flétri). Here we have a couple of famous producers that you may just be able to find in the US: Les Crete and Costantino Charrère. Les Crete is considered to be Valle d’Aosta’s best winery and produces two very highly rated wines: Fumin Vigne La Tour and Chardonnay Cuvée Frissonnière Cuvée Bois (yes, I know that’s a mouthful). Les Crete wines are made by our good friend and Valle d’Aosta’sleading Oenologist Claudio David. Claudio also has his own boutique winery in the valley called David Stefano. At the moment he makes about 8000 bottles a year including Torrette, Pinot Noir and Fumin. These may be tough to find but we’re really excited about these wines that are an expression of what Claudio can do with his own vineyards and his own wines!
3. At the northern end of the valley in “Alta Valle” (high valley) we come across two amazing wine producing regions. First sub-zone is Enfer d’Ariver, a rare red wine made from Petit Rouge grapes and produced on a hill-side that is a natural amphitheatre, literally soaked in sunshine (for this reason nicknamed Enfer, French for Inferno). Two producers make this wine: the Coop – Cave Cooperative de l’Enfer and the tiny local producer Thomain (total bottles produced 2000!). Still farther north, clinging to the steep terraces that climb right up the side of Monte Bianco are the highest altitude vineyards in Europe. A rare white wine called Blanc de Morgex et de la Salle is produced here with a native grape variety called Prié Blanc. These vineyards are so high altitude – up to 1200 meters above sea level – that the roots were never affected by the Philossera epidemic that devastated almost all of Europe’s vineyards in the 1800’s. In fact the Prié Blanc in this area is still planted on European root stock and not grafted onto American stock! The largest producer is once again the Coop – Cave du Vin Blanc de Morgex – but there are several small producers here as well including: Hermes Pavese and Maison Vevey Albert. Throughout the region many “international” varieties are also grown and produce excellent wines. The most important internationals are Chardonnay and Pinot Gris for the whites, Pinot Noir and Gamay for the reds. Again Les Crete (150,000 bottles total production) is your best bet for finding excellent international varieties including Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and an incredible Syrah based wine called Coteau La Tour. At a Glance Valle d’Aosta wine picks: Bassa Valle:
Middle Valley :
Alta Valle:
Want to Visit this region on a diVino Active Wine Adventure?
Experience this amazing alpine region and it’s rare wines as you tour small heroic wineries and enjoy tastings of local wines directly with the producers. Dive into the mountain sports of the valley enjoying guided hikes in along some of the valley’s most breathtaking mountain trails and a ½ day white water rafting excursion. This 6 day, 5 night adventure is a one of a kind journey into one of Italy’s hidden gems! For more information please visit out our web site at www.divinotours.com/aosta.html
Can’t find that wine in shops at home? Want to get your hands on some of these wines but just can’t find them? Many of those tiny local producers probably don’t export at all to the US and some of them don’t export beyond the boarders of their own region! To help you get these extraordinary wines, diVino has recently started offering a wine order/shipping service exclusively for our clients. We aren’t a wine exporter or retailer but we will help you locate the wines you’re looking for and ship them to you via Mail Boxes Etc. Please contact us for more details on how to order wines through diVino
diVino - Custom & Wine Tours in Italy - www.divinotours.com - info@divinotours.com call Amy in Italy at: 011-39-339-290-0763, from Italy: 339-290-0763
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