Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Dried flowers and some gently waxy notes impart such deliciously fresh and appealing aromas. The palate has a smooth and attractively fresh core of pears and apples. Nicely cut and very crisp. Rare Swiss grape.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Ottin 2018 Vallée d'Aoste Petite Arvine is a terrific take on this expressive grape that loves the high altitudes and glacier soils of this remote and beautiful corner of Northern Italy. There are layers of crisp pear, minty apple and sweet nectarine that add lots of fresh personality and lift to the bouquet. The fruit comes from 50-year-old vines, and you can taste sensations of salty mineral and crushed stone. This wine is an ideal match to an appetizer of raw coquillages.
There are hundreds of white grape varieties grown throughout the world. Some are indigenous specialties capable of producing excellent single varietal wines. Each has its own distinct viticultural characteristics, as well as aroma and flavor profiles.
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.