🏔️ Last week while on a family ski trip to the French, Italian and Swiss Alps I found myself driving right through Italy’s smallest wine region, the Valle d’Aosta. A valley that runs only ~45 miles between two of the most famous peaks in the Alps, Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.
💫 At the northwestern most part of the valley is the town of Morgex, where in the shadows of Mont Blanc on steep hillside slopes an indigenous grape variety called Prié Blanc solely grows. It is amazing to taste wines from a grape that grows only here, in a 2 mile stretch between Morgex and the town of La Salle. The grape produces fresh and elegant wines with marked floral, apple, pear and fresh cut hay notes, with a marked acidic lift and mineral backbone.
👩🌾 I had the pleasure of visiting one of the best producers in this area, Ermes Pavese, and had the distinct pleasure of being hosted by his daughter Ninive who shared several tank samples as well as finished wines. The unmistakeable taste of Prié Blanc rang through in all of the wines and it was enjoyable to taste the difference between bottles aged in stainless vs amphora vs oak. We also had a single vineyard bottling Le Sette Scalinate named for a specific 7 terraces in one of their best vineyard site. Sold only in magnums, I made room in my suitcase for one for sure 😂Finally, we had two different Metodo Classico sparklers, one aged 18 months of the lees and one with an extended 48 month on lees. Both were exceptional and made the cut as well.
🥔 The family also grows potatoes and son Nathan makes perhaps the best chips I’ve ever had from them. Ninive fed us well and even sent several bags with us as gifts.
🍇 Wine travel is the best travel. I will forever be moved by visiting these special places on earth and experiencing a sense of place that carries through to the bottle. If you can find these wines(they are distributed stateside by Rosenthal Wine Merchant) buy them and transport yourself if only for a few hours to this high Alpine region, with stunning views, fresh air, delicious fontina based fondutta, and warm and welcoming people.