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There’s precious little wine in this very small region set in the Alps on the Swiss and French border. And, of that wine, most gets swilled and sipped by skiers and mountain climbers. Which, it seems, are the same people needed to harvest under conditions of snow and bone-chilling altitudes upwards of 1300 meters.
The seven wine sub-zones fall under the all-inclusive Valle D’Aosta zone. The sub-zones, more or less, follow the Doras river from Donnas up to Morgex (which is just South of the St. Bernard Pass into Switzerland, if you’re in the market for a barrel-totting dog).
Wines labled with catch-all Valle d’Aosta designation usually have variety designation on the label which accounts for at least 85% of the wine, e.g. Valle D’Aosta Petit Rouge. Alternatively, you find yourself in one of the wine-sub zones with its rules. For example, there’s Valle d’Aosta Torrette, which has to have at least 70% Petit Rouge, with the possibility of other local grapes (Gamay, Fumin, Vien de Nus, etc.) filling up the rest of the bottle.
There’s plenty of stick-to-your-ribs-mountain-fair in these parts. Cows roam and tinkle their bells toward the local Fontina cheese that often comes melted over polenta. Depending on the season, a short hike will bear an abundance of alpine flowers, herbs, blueberries, and wild mushrooms. Give these wines a try the next time you invite one of your wine-geek friends and confound him or her with some varieties, such as Priè Blanc or Petit Rouge, which are not found anywhere else in the world.
Grape Varieties: Priè Blanc, Mayolet, Fumin,and more...
