The Italy Wine Project

Regions / Valle d'Aosta

DOCStill huntingModerate

Valle d'Aosta (Vallée d'Aoste) DOC

IL PROGETTODOCVALLE D'AOSTA (VALLÉE D'AOSTE)AAIT69689105Denominazione di Origine Controllata

No strip issued. I'm still hunting a bottle.

One DOC covers Italy's smallest region, a French-speaking Alpine valley where vines climb to 1,200 meters at Morgex, the highest in Europe. The subzones are the way in: Torrette is a peppery, cranberry-scented Petit Rouge red; Donnas is Alpine Nebbiolo with rose, sour cherry and mountain acidity; Fumin makes dark, smoky, blackberry-and-graphite reds; Petite Arvine gives a saline, grapefruit-driven white; Blanc de Morgex is a feather-light, high-altitude white from ungrafted Prié Blanc; Chambave Muscat and Nus Malvoisie are the aromatic and passito curiosities. Everything is small-scale and the best producers (Grosjean, Les Crêtes, Lo Triolet, Didier Gerbelle, Ermes Pavese) are serious. Alpine freshness and moderate alcohol run through all of it.

Still hunting

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If you make Valle d'Aosta (Vallée d'Aoste), import it, or know who does, the form takes two minutes and I reply to every one.

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Bottles I'm chasing

  • Grosjean

    Valle d'Aosta Torrette

    The most findable Aosta red in the US; Petit Rouge with cranberry, white pepper, violet and bright acidity.

    $22 to $28Wine-Searcher

  • Les Crêtes

    Valle d'Aosta Petite Arvine

    The valley's leading estate; saline, grapefruit and white flowers with a taut, rhubarb-tinged finish.

    $28 to $35Wine-Searcher

  • Cave Mont Blanc de Morgex et La Salle

    Valle d'Aosta Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle

    Cooperative wine from Europe's highest vineyards, ungrafted Prié Blanc; feather-light, green apple, alpine herbs, 11 to 12 percent alcohol.

    $20 to $28Wine-Searcher