Cellared WHERE?

Most people who know and hang out with me, my staff, and our company are familiar with our goal: We travel around Europe and the US to track down and bring in unique wines from unique production areas. After my last scouting trip, I may have outdone myself. I was in Val D’Aosta, a tiny region in Italy, wedged between Piemonte and France, in the middle of the Alps just north of the city of Turin. I have been visiting this winery since last spring, finalizing our selection while marveling at the beauty of its wines and the mountains all around me. This time I was tasting with Andrea, the winemaker, and he handed me a glass of sparkling wine which I had just been admiring in the bottle because of its beautiful shade of pink. By now, you all know, that I never refuse to taste wines, especially sparkling wines (my July blog can attest to this). This wine was really well made, using classic method, from a single vineyard of Pinot Noir grapes which we had just been hiking. Andrea gave me the winemaker’s description but I will skip the technicality of it all, to get to WHERE the wine is made and WHERE this beauty is aged and matured: on the Matterhorn.  I could not believe it– the cellar for this beauty and for its little brother, a Charmat Method made with Chardonnay and Muscat, is underneath the historic alpine guides’ chalet, the base camp from which all the major climbs to the famous summit took place and still do.

So, out of all the cellars that I visit, this is one that I will need to physically train to reach. I’m planning on taking some of you with me, so you’d better get your hiking boots out and get in shape too. The wines will be coming soon to our market, until then we will have to be patient, like good mountain climbers.

Cin Cin,

Manu