Aosta · Italy

The vines above the city

The vines climb here in terraces supported by dry-stone walls, built stone upon stone without mortar. It is done so because the slope is too steep for any other solution, and because the stone absorbs the sun by day and returns it to the vines by night. It is a viticulture nobody would undertake for profit: no machine can reach it, the work is done by hand, and the yield per hectare is low. The varieties are almost all local and are met with nowhere else: Petit Rouge, Fumin, Cornalin, Petite Arvine. They survived because the valley was isolated enough never to have replaced its own varieties with fashionable ones. In some parts of the region the vines exceed 1,000 metres, among the highest in Europe.

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Why dry-stone walls?

Because they drain. Without mortar the water passes between the stones instead of building up behind the wall and pushing it over. They can also be repaired on the spot, with the same stones, by one person. It is a very old technique and hard to improve on.

What are the wines like?

The reds are light in body but not in character, with a clean acidity that comes from the altitude and the cold nights. The whites are sharp and mineral. Very little is made, and almost all of it is drunk in the region.

Can you walk among the vines?

Yes, there are lanes and paths between the terraces, and some of them follow the rus. It is private land: keep to the paths rather than walking between the rows. The view over the city and the mountains opposite is the reason to come up.

Where it is

Porossan, 11100 Aosta · 45.76128, 7.32446 · Open in Maps

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