Les Cretes Pinot Noir 2010
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Founded in 1989 by Costantino Charrere and Jolanda Plat, Les Cretes is one of only a few commercial wineries in the quaint region of Valle D'Aosta. The winery is located in Aymavilles with the cellar lying one mile from Monte Bianco tunnel.
Originally from France, the Charrère family moved in the mid 1700s to what is now the Aosta Valley of Italy. They started out as farmers and millers, establishing a home site and building a water powered mill on their property in Aymaville.
In 1955 the Charrères planted their first two hectares of grapes, focusing on making quality wines out of the indigenous vinifera varieties grown in the Aosta Valley. Les Crêtes vineyards are located along the Aosta Valley’s Dora Baltea river and are distributed among vineyard blocks in six different villages; Saint Pierre, Aymavilles, Gressan, Sarre, Aosta and Saint Christophe. Plant densities in the vineyards range from 7,000 to 8,000 vines per hectare.
Les Crêtes produces its wines in a very specific context, characterized by high mountains, sandy slopes and alpine temperatures. Attention to the environment, cultivation techniques combined with specialized research and experimentation are the key aspects to our reality, which has an intrinsic and focused link with the surrounding habitat. Each activity is carried out with the greatest dedication and care, in relation to the quality and passion that distinguishes us.
Les Crêtes philosophy continues to follow the values ??of past generations valuing the “terroir” with loyalty and respect for tradition. The look, however, is always open to the future of innovation that allows us to express the wealth of a of a wine mountain territory : unique and unforgettable.
While Pinot Noir is certainly not indigenous to Italy, it grows with intriguing success throughout the cooler, high-altitude regions of the north, occupying approximately 8,000 acres in total. Elegant, food-friendly, dry red wine examples of Pinot Noir (locally called Pinot Nero) can be found from Alto Adige, Friuli, Valle d’Aosta and the Oltrepo Pavese region of Lombardy. In Oltrepo Pavese, it is also sometimes blended with Barbera to good effect. Lombardy’s Franciacorta region grows Pinot Noir, along with Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc, to produce stunning examples of sparkling wine made using the traditional method, i.e. the same method used to make Champagne.