Aosta Valley wines 

The Aosta Valley viticulture is typically mountainous, so we can define it, it seems a shadow of contradiction, "heroic". It has an area of about 3000 sq km, entirely mountainous, with the highest mountains in Italy, on which Mont Blanc stands out. It has a very small vineyard area (about 400 hectares), of which 70% is in the mountains and the remainder in the hills. The cultivation of the vine is located above all along the 80 km of the course of the Dora Baltea and, as often happens in mountain areas such as Valtellina or in some plots in Alto Adige, it is arranged on terraces supported by stone walls that form small plots, in mostly supported by the roots of the vines themselves. On these very steep terraces all the processes are strictly manual. The vines grown in the region are almost all native, also because these varieties have a high vitality even at altitudes where other species would not survive or would not be productive: we find, among the red wines , those with black grapes, the Petit Rouge, the Prëmetta and the Fumin, while among the white berried ones the Prié Blanc (in addition to the international classics such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir). Despite its small size, the Aosta Valley wine production has a remarkable variety and complexity. Only one DOC in the region (Valle d'Aosta or Vallée d'Aoste DOC), but with 7 sub-zones (Arnad-Montjovet, Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle, Chambave, Donnas, Enfer d'Avrier, Nus, Torrette) , well characterized from the pedoclimatic point of view. A small production, but of high quality, waiting to be discovered.