Lo Triolet Vallee d'Aoste Torrette DOC

Fermented and aged in a mixture of stainless steel and used barrel.

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’.