White
Petite Arvine
A white grown in the Valle d'Aosta and, more widely, across the border in the Swiss Valais. It gives high acid, citrus and white flowers with a distinctly saline finish, and it holds structure well enough to age. In Aosta it is grown on terraces in the central valley.
Worth knowing
It is Valaisan rather than Italian in origin and crossed the Alps rather than the other way round. The salty note on the finish is consistent enough that growers on both sides of the border use it as the identifying mark of the variety.
Where it is allowed1 appellation