Vallée d'Aoste Petite Arvine Vigne Champorette 2005 Les Crêtes

How about a wine that you have never heard of? A wine that is considered one of the top Italian wines. Vallée d'Aoste Petite Arvine Vigne Champorette 2005 Les Crêtes is difficult, if not impossible, to find here in the US. A heirloom white wine that is exclusive, for the few truly passionate wine lovers. Vallée d'Aoste Petite Arvine Vigne Champorette Les Crêtes has been one of the top Italian wines almost every year for the last 10 years. It is a wine so strange that looking at its label you are convinced that it is French. Not because the vineyard wants to play the French game instead it is their local dialect. An Italian wine, a white wine no less, a close cousin of a chardonnay, truly a hidden treasure.

My friends, who are gainfully employed in the wine business, do not think I should write about wines that cannot be found. After all, why write about something that cannot be purchased. Since I am not in the wine business and could care less about the ups and downs of sales, I can talk about unknown wines. This is my personality. I search for things others do not have. I would never fill my cellar with every vintage of Lafite-Rothschild. I will leave that to the experts. A wine is like a woman, when you find one that is special, that has the characteristics that make your head swoon, you do not want everyone to have her. Your cellar should be filled with wines that you love. Somehow they speak to you. You choose a wine because of its personality and you match it with an appropriate food.

This is not the wine for those who want to show off their knowledge of wines by buying wines on the highly pimped rating sites. This wine is for the true wine connoisseur. This is a wine worth taking a trip to Courmayeur, eating some Fontina, trying some of the local dried meats and buying a case to bring home. Think about the marvelous flavors of the Valle d’Aosta and this is what Vallée d'Aoste Petite Arvine Vigne Champorette 2005 Les Crêtes represents. I compare it to a Gaja & Rey. Valle d’Aosta boasts 6 primary wines. They range from the ice wine, Il Chaudelune, harvested only after the first snows to the exclusive and famous Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle, of which only a few thousand bottles are produced every year. Quality and Quantity rarely move in the same direction. Great wines, except in a few instances, are produced in reduced quantities. Great quantities usually translate to McDonald’s quality production.

Finding this wine will require work. It may even require a trip to Italy. If you find this wine, prepare Gnocchi alla Bava, cut a few pieces of Fontina, and perhaps a Veal filet with a mushroom sauce. Hold it for the best of friends and enjoy something that few in the world know about.

Grape: 100% Petite Arvine.

Color: Limpid hay yellow.

Bouquet: Pleasantly fresh scents of Apple, Grapefruit, Pear and a hint Jasmine.

Taste: Clean, intense and persistent. In the mouth it is dry and smooth. This is a uniquely flavorful wine with a citrus and a sensation of salt in the finish. This wine is more intense than most whites.

Alcohol Content: from 13.5 %

Serving Temperature: 8-10 c.

Aging: This wine can age 3-6 years.

Decanting: None.

Pouring: No special indications.

Glass: White wine glass.

Petite Arvine Les Cretes Heirloom Wines White Wine Italian Wine Valle d'Aosta Sommelier Food and Wine Travel Italy