Les Cretes Pinot Nero 2018
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James
Suckling
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The 2018 Les Cretes Pinot Nero is a fresh red fruit to the nose, wild berries and sage. On the palate, fruity and tangy with fine structure and velvety tannins. Fresh and mineral finish.
Pair this wine alongside main dishes, salami, red and white meat, fondue, cheese. It is also suitable with dishes of oily fish, baked, grilled or as carpaccio.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A very pretty pinot noir that shows loads of soaked fruit, ranging from blueberry compote to raspberry puree. Medium-bodied, fruity and round with fine tannins and bright acidity.
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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.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Claiming an impressive list of autochthonous varieties, Valle d'Aosta is a long, narrow valley, formed by Italy’s extreme northwestern Alps. The region, a natural gateway between Italy and France, is also home to many grape migrants from France and its more southerly Italian neighbors. Not surprisingly, wine labels are often written in Italian and French.
The main whites here include: Petite Arvine and Prié blanc (Blanc de Morgex). For reds: Fumin, Cornalin, Mayolet, Petit Rouge, Premetta, Vuillermin, Neblou, and Vien de Nus are unique to the region. French ones that do well are Gamay noir, Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Pinot gris (confusingly called Malvoisie in Aosta but it is not related to Malvasia). Italian grapes common here include Moscato, Dolcetto, Barbera, Nebbiolo, and from farther away, Ciliegiolo.