Italian Food, Wine & Travel goes to the Valle d'Aosta

I'm excited for this month's highlight of the Valle d'Aosta region of Italy for our Italian Food, Wine & Travel group. The Valle d'Aosta is the smallest regions in Italy tucked into the northwestern corner of Italy bordering France and Switzerland. Due to it's close proximity of these two countries there are strong influences from both France and Switzerland culturally and through it's food and wine. The name Valle d'Aosta, or Aosta Valley, originates from the Roman emperor, Augustus, and the geography of this region structured as a valley between a number of mountains.

This region is perfect for the outdoor enthusiast. It's known for its ski resorts and hiking trails, especially those through the Parco del Gran Paradiso. There are plenty of beautiful rivers and lakes in the peaceful countryside with wildlife in the surroundings. One of it's most stunning attractions are the snow capped mountains that dramatically hang over you in the valleys below. The mountains here consist of the tallest in western Europe, Monte Bianco or Mont Blanc, as well as Monte Rosa, the Matterhorn and others.

Food of the Valle d'Aosta

When you think of the Alpine regions of Italy you probably think of colder climatic conditions and with that comes heartier fare. That's what the Valle d'Aosta is known for. Everything from hot soups like the zuppa di valdostana, rye breads, to polenta covered in alpine cheeses, fondue with fontina being one of the popular cheeses, and meat based dishes like veal.

Wines of the Valle d'Aosta

Dominated by one DOC, Valle d'Aosta, and no DOCG's you'll find lots of grapes in this area you may have never heard of or even had the chance to experience. Red grapes such as cornalin, mayolet, petite arvine, torrette, fumin and petit rouge and white grapes such as prie blanc, muscat, muller thurgau, gewurztraminer and pinot grigio. There are a number of different climatic zones in the Aosta Valley with the main winemaking area of this particular region being the Dora Baltea Valley around the town of Aosta.

Join us November 7^th where myself and all my Italian loving blogger friends share our experiences on the food, wine and travel to this region.

Here's a preview of what's coming up:

Vino Travels – Swept away to the Alpine region of the Valle d'Aosta

Culinary Adventures with Camilla - Pluot-Glazed Duck Legs and Les Cretes Torrette 2011
Rockin Red Blog - Over the Hills and Far Away
Enofylz Wine Blog - Veal Ribs with Fontina with Valle d'Aosta Torrette Superieur #ItalianFWT
Cooking Chat - Ziti with Kale Pesto and Roasted Broccoli
Food Wine Click - They Sure Love Fontina in the Valle d'Aosta
Confessions of a Culinary Diva - Valle d'Aosta Fonduta & Wine
The Wining Hour - Valle d'Aosta Petit Rouge & Fontina

A live chat will be held Saturday November 7^th at 11am on Twitter at #ItalianFWT and we'd love to hear from you.

There is still time to join our group and tell us about any of your travels and food and/or wine experiences of this region. Email me at vinotravels at hotmail dot com and join our group. We'd love to have you.

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Unique Grapes of Italy's Alpine Valle d'Aosta region

I previously wrote about my travels to the stunning Valle d'Aosta when I wrote about the agriturismo, La Viggni de Crest, that I stayed last October.  They also produce their own grapes that they sell off to a local cooperative. The cooperative, Cave des Onze Communes, gathers the grapes they purchase from 11 different municipalities to produce a variety of wines. They produce about 33,500 bottles from 19 different DOC wines under the only DOC of the Aosta Valley, Valle d'Aosta DOC. 

Cave des Onze Communes in the Valle Centrale
Cave des Onze Communes is located in Aymavilles, just outside the city center of Aosta in the central valley, Valle Centrale, where most of the winemaking of the region takes place. This region is not only the smallest in size, but also produces the least amount of wine throughout all of Italy, but it sure offers plenty of unique varietals. 

For Christmas I typically will open some of my better bottles, but with hopes of 2015 bringing about my first child and knowing that if that is the case, my wines will have to sit and not be drunk during this time frame.  I figured I would let my older bottles that I brought back from Italy rest since I know they will continue to age well. (Yes lots of thought went into that.  We are talking wine here so it's important!) So I decided to open a bottle I brought back from my visit to the Aosta Valley, which was the 2011 Cave des Onze Communes L'Ancien Cepage. It's a red blend with grapes typical of this region including petit rouge, fumin and mayolet. 

The unique grapes of the Valle d'Aosta
Since this isn't a region that is on the top of everyone's list for visiting, unless you are the outdoors type or a big skier, I wanted to talk about some of the unknown grapes of the Aosta Valley. The natural beauty of the steep sloped vineyards and alps hanging over the valley is a memorable experience. What I found interesting were the large variety of grapes that were unfamiliar to me to such as the ones that are blended in this particular wine. 

About 75% of the wine produced from the Valle d'Aosta wine region are red wines with the red grape, Petit Rouge leading the way. This grape can be found in the wines of the subzones of the central valley including Enfer d'Arvier, Nus, Torrette and Chambave. Vino Italiano, by Joe Bastianich and David Lynch, compare the Fumin grape to a Cotes-du-Rhone Syrah.  Mayolet is probably the least common of these three native grapes and is usually used as a blending grape. Over the years of winemaking in the Aosta Valley, this grape has slowly been replaced with other grapes due to the difficulty it takes to grow it.

I hope one day you have the opportunity to try some of these native grapes. Having the opportunity to taste wines that are indigenous of a region is a true way to experience the terroir of that area.

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Sources: North American Sommelier Association, Vino Italiano by Joe Bastianich and David Lynch.

Escape to the Italian Alps with Pinot Nero from Grosjean in Valle d'Aosta

One of the most beautiful parts of Italy I have been to I traveled to last October for my honeymoon in the Valle d'Aosta or Aosta Valley, the tip of northwestern Italy. I shared my beautiful trip with you in my last blog on the Valle d'Aosta when I stayed at Agriturismo La Viggni de Crest. Today we'll discuss the region more in depth as I'm learning thoroughly the Italian wine regions through the NASA Italian Wine Specialist program. With Vino Travels being an Italian wine blog of course I'm going to take you through my journey in this program region by region.

Grosjean Winery

The wine I'm sharing with you today comes from the Grosjean winery. Doesn't sound very Italian at all, does it? That's because the Valle d'Aosta, or Valle d' Aoste, region in Italy is a combination of French and Italian speaking residents. This region borders France in the west and Switzerland in the north, so there are many influences from not only a linguistic standpoint, but also in the food, wine and traditions. This region is the smallest populated region in all of Italy. It may be the least populated, but all the better to enjoy the peace of nature with the tallest mountain in western Europe, Mont Blanc or Monte Bianco, dominating the valley. 

Grosjean winery

This region only has one DOC, the Valle d'Aosta DOC, but produces 25 styles of wine with the Institut Agricole Regional stating that there are 13 grapes that are native to this region. Reds mostly dominate this region by about 85% with pinot nero being one of the top red grapes from this region. The Grosjean winery has a large variety of these grapes and uses very natural methods in their farming along with organic fertilizers.

Grosjean family

I tasted the 2012 Grosjean Pinot Nero Valle d'Aosta DOC wine. It was a dry, medium bodied wine that was rather smooth with red currant and spices to include clove and licorice on the palate. The tannins were soft and the wine was moderately balanced.

I highly recommend seeking out this region not only for it's beauty, but for it's variety of indigenous varietals if you can find them.

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