Lo Triolet Pinot Gris Vallee d'Aoste DOC

Pressing of freshly harvested grapes. Pressing of the grapes following a short maceration. Controlled temperature fermentation. Aging for 8 months in steel, keeping the wine on the end fermentation deposit.

The Val d’Aosta sits in the far northwest of Italy, close to both the French and Swiss borders. Marco Martin of Lo Triolet has been working his own 5ha up here in this challenging, high alpine terrain since 1993. They’re located in the village of Introd on the southern side of the Dora Baltea river, just three miles from the awe inspiring peaks of the Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso.

His Pinot Gris vineyards are up above 900m amsl (Snowdon is 1085m to put this into context) … right on the limit of what’s possible. Marco roughly practices organic, using only organic compost to fertilise, and employing only thoughtful integrated pest management in the vines.

These are properly serious mountain wines. Mineral flecked, pure, bright, and full of energy but all of them carrying something dense in their core that is so much more than just ‘refreshing’.