Sky High Wine - Anthony Giglio

VINI & LIQUORI
WinE ColUMn
sky-high wine
by Anthony GiGlio
VaLLe d’aOsta seems LIke the Least
Italian region of Italy. It’s tucked into the
northwestern corner of the Italian Alps, on the
border of France and Switzerland, and road
signs are written in both French and Italian. But
if you ask for directions, you may even hear
the Franco-Provençal dialect that is spoken only
in Valle d’Aosta, the eastern corner of France
and western Switzerland. Known for its alpine
scenery and the famed ski resort Courmayeur,
the region’s wines are no less spectacular, yet
remain one of Italy’s best kept secrets.
With the highest vineyards in Europe, Valle
d’Aosta’s short growing season and harsh
terrain make wine production difficult, and only
a limited number of its wines are exported
to the U.S. But what I found and tasted were
astounding. The combination of elements that
go into these bottles produces wines of marked
individuality, with bracing, steely whites from
the region’s highest elevation vineyards, and
old-vine nebbiolos with balanced acidity and
intoxicating aromatics from the lower slopes
of the valley.
To understand the wines that are made here,
you have to understand the region. Because the
valley lies at the crossroads of three countries, it
has a rich heritage despite its small size. My buddy
Brian Larky, a former winemaker, used to live
here. He noticed Valle d’Aosta’s cultural pastiche
when he visited the first time. “We were skiing in
Italy, but the lift operator said ‘Bonjour’ as we
headed to the top of Courmayeur, toward France,
with Chamonix on the other side,” he says. “Fresh
powder blanketed the Alps as we ripped fresh
tracks down almost 2,500 vertical feet to
a beautiful baita—or mountain chalet—for some
fresh Fontina Val d’Aosta and a glass of Les Crêtes
chardonnay—an amazing Italian wine.”
Valle d’Aosta, like other Italian border territories
such as Trentino-Alto Adige, shares traits with its
neighbors and is unique to its remote place both
geographically and culturally, with a swirl of
influence from Switzerland, France and remnants
from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
One of the area’s most ubiquitous dishes,
veal Valdostana, epitomizes the cultural mash-up:
A pounded veal chop is breaded, stuffed with
local Fontina cheese and fried. The recipe seems
to take inspiration from Piedmont’s veal
Milanese, Austria’s wiener schnitzel and France’s
veal cordon bleu.
20
•
January/February 2013
illustration by istvan banyai
The top of Valle d’Aosta stretches from Monte
Bianco (the Italian side of Mont Blanc) on
its western border with France straight across to
the Matterhorn on its eastern border with
Switzerland. It is flanked by dozens of mountain
peaks ranging in heights that reach upwards of
15,000 feet, but despite the scale of its scenery,
it is Italy’s smallest region.
Even though many of the region’s wines sound
French, made from grapes with names like pinot
gris, petit rouge and gamay, they’re distinctly
Italian. You’ll also find nebbiolo (called
picotendro by locals) and dolcetto, whose cousins
reign supreme in Piedmont, just south of here.
The entire region shares a single DOC
denomination. Bottles are labeled either Valle
d’Aosta in Italian or Vallée d’Aoste in French.
The short valley that defines the region is barely
60 miles long, but it is divided into seven
sub-zones that run its length. Vineyards climb
the steep, terraced slopes that rise from the
valley floor and the Dora Baltea river that runs
through it to more than 4,000 feet in elevation,
the highest in Europe.
Larky, who now is based in California, where
he imports wines from Italy through Dalla
Terra Winery Direct, once worked on the Dora
Baltea as a rafting guide, and he describes the
river as “in the terroir,” surrounded by the
glacial moraine hillsides, a mixture of sand and
calcareous rock. “It was great for boating, as
it has a Continental—not an Alpine—climate,”
he says. “We’d ski in the morning and run the
river on snowmelt in the afternoon.”
The elevation is key to the individuality of
Valdostan wines. In the November 2007 issue
of Vineyard and Winery Management magazine,
Ted Rieger writes that the high-elevation grapes
are subjected to wide swings in daytime and
nighttime temperature, and intense UV sunlight,
both of which promote the production of
phenolics, acidity and sugar, essential ingredients
for quality wine grapes. And the soil of the
mountainside slopes where Valle d’Aosta
vineyards lie—some so steep the grapes have to
be harvested using ropes and pullies—is shallow
and mineral rich, which forces the roots of the
vines to spread out in search of moisture and
encourages the vines to absorb minerals from the
soil, another flavor-enhancing characteristic.
At the top of the valley, just miles from the
slopes of Courmayeur, the sub-region Blanc ›››
frederick wildman & sons, ltd
VINI & LIQUORI
WINE COLUMN
P ROSE C CO
VALLE D’AOSTA
Courmayeur
Do
l
Ba
ra
Chambave
te
MONTE BIANCO
a
SWITZERLAND
Nus
Torrette
Aosta
Morgex
Nus
Arnad
Montjovet
Blanc de Morgex
et de la Salle
Donnas
Enfer
d’Arvier
Cogne
I TA LY
Arnaz
94 points
Gambero Rosso
(‘06, ‘03, ‘01, ‘00v.)
Wine Advocate (2007v.)
▲The Valle d’Aosta wine region,
FRANCE
“Offers lovely balance in
a perfumed, crisp style. The
finish is long and polished.”
w ww. f red eric k wil dman.com
c e l e b r at i n g y e a r s o f e x c e l l e n c e
I TA L I A N E S TAT E S
de Morgex et de la Salle has the highest
vineyards in the valley, topping out at
more than 4,000 feet. Blanc de Morgex
is the predominant grape. It’s durable
and suited to the area’s elevation
because it ripens early and can be
harvested before the first snows. The
extreme heights and isolation protected
the vines from the phylloxera blight
that destroyed most of Europe’s
vineyards in the 19th century, and
some of the vineyards are more than
a century old. These craggy old vines
produce a mineral-rich wine with
layers of lean citrus, and mountain
herb flavors and aromas.
Several miles to the east, Enfer
d’Arvier takes its name from the
French word for “hell” because the
temperature in this sub-zone spikes
drastically during the day. The wines
here are light, delicate blends, with
petit rouge the predominant varietal,
along with dolcetto and a number
of other local grapes. The neighboring
region of Torrette also produces
blends based on petit rouge, though
these bottles lean toward spicy,
violet-scented wines reminiscent
of Beaujolais.
Roughly 25 miles from the mouth
of the valley, in Nus, light, floral reds
are made from 50 percent vien de nus,
barely 60 miles long, has seven subregions. It runs from Italy’s border
with France and Switzerland to the
town of Donnas at its southeastern tip.
another indigenous grape, which has a
deep garnet color and bright fruitiness.
In Chambave, where the valley heads
south and the elevation drops, wines
take on a bit more body. Here, 60
percent petit rouge is blended with
various amounts of dolcetto, gamay
and pinot noir. Finally, at the terminus
of the valley, stretching to the border
of Piedmont, in Arnad-Montjovet
and Donnas, nebbiolo is the preferred
varietal. Winemakers here are
producing wines that have turned
heads in Piedmont. With their refined
aromatics and elegant structure, these
wines bring to mind the nebbiolobased reds of Carema, in Piedmont,
which is only several miles from
the town of Donnas, at the mouth
of the valley.
It’s worth mentioning that a number
of the area’s best wineries are
cooperatives—a consortium of
winegrowers and winemakers working
in concert—who manage to keep
prices at insanely affordable levels for
the small production and high quality
of the wines, such as Caves
Cooperatives de Donnas, in Donnas,
and La Crotta di Vegneron, in
Chambave. But there are a handful
of independent producers, too. Les
Crêtes is a standout and was ›››
95 points
Cellar Selection
Wine Enthusiast (2007v.)
90 points
Wine Spectator (2005v.)
96 points
Top Piedmont Wine
Wine Spectator (2006v.)
91 points
Wine Spectator (2008v.)
Gambero Rosso
(2008v.)
95 points
Riserva — Cellar Selection
Wine Enthusiast (2004v.)
“A Jewel of Piedmont”
Wine Spectator
CAMPAIGN FINANCED AS PER E.C. REGULATION N. 1234/07
C E L E B R AT I N G Y E A R S O F E X C E L L E N C E
90 points
Wine Enthusiast (2008v.)
VINI & LIQUORI
WINE COLUMN
suggested bottles
Valle d’Aosta, a small valley
in the Italian Alps that starts
at the base of Monte Bianco,
might be an unlikely place for
grapes. But vineyards cling to
the area’s steep, craggy slopes,
and local winemakers capture
the alpine terroir in understated
yet complex wines. Now, an
increasing number of the hardto-find bottles are making their
way to the U.S. Here are five
of our favorites.
LA CROTTA DI
VEGNERON,
CHAMBAVE, VALLE
D’AOSTA, 2010, $20
A cooperative of 10
growers in Chambave,
one of the best vineyard
regions in Valle d’Aosta,
produces this hearty, fullbodied blend. Petit rouge
is the main grape, with
small amounts of gamay,
pinot noir and other local
varietals. It brims with juicy
black cherry and earthy
coffee aromas and flavors,
while the medium tannins
offer a solid, hefty finish.
EZIO VOYAT,
“LE MURAGLIE,”
CHAMBAVE, N.V., $35
Le Muraglie (The Walls)
is the cloistered vineyard
where Voyat’s wife and
daughter (who took over
winemaking after his death
nine years ago) tend their
grapes. Made from 50%
petit rouge, 40% grosvien
and 10% dolcetto, this wine
has bright color, and
flavors that meld floral,
berry and espresso notes
with clean acidity.
Get it to go...
the snow-capped peaks of Valle
d’Aosta have long had their admirers,
its wines are just beginning to trickle
into the U.S., and I have no doubt
that they will soon garner their own
enthusiastic fan base. 
LO TRIOLET,
GEWÜRZTRAMINER,
VALEE D’AOSTA,
2011, $25
This tiny winery, founded
in 1993 by Marco Martin,
is just three miles from the
spectacular peaks of the
Parco Nazionale del Gran
Paradiso. But one whiff of
this white and you might
think it’s from Alsace, with
its white flower and ginger
root aromas, chief among
them galangal (a Thai root
related to ginger with
a flavor reminiscent of
bubble gum).
CAVES COOPERATIVES
DE DONNAS, DONNAS,
VALLE D’AOSTA,
2007, $20
This red blend, from
a cooperative of growers
whose grapes are grown in
rugged, vertiginous terraced
vineyards, is dominated by
nebbiolo (known locally
as picotendro) and freisa
grapes. Produced in large,
neutral oak tanks, the purity
of its cherry fruit is intact,
with layers of coffee and
herbs, and a hint of smoke
and chalky violet candy in
the moderately tannic finish.
LES CRÊTES, TORETTE,
VALLE D’AOSTA,
2010, $25
From Costantino Charrère,
Valle d’Aosta’s best-known
winemaker, comes this
smoky, gravelly blend
of 70% petit rouge and
30% other indigenous
varieties, including
dolcetto, fumin and gamay.
It tastes like a bright,
intense, mouthwatering
dolcetto blended with
a formidable, berryflavored cru Beaujolais.
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BOTTLES: G. GIRALDO
founded in 1989 by sixth generation
winemaker Costantino Charrère.
The winery has won numerous
awards, especially for its whites.
Personally, I love the red Torrette from
Les Crêtes (below). In any case, while
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