Five Mountain Wines

Well made wines from higher altitudes are finding more favor with wine lovers. That is, wines emphasizing a breezy finesse, outgoing aromatics and with surprising depth without heavier weightiness found in “bigger” wines.

Five Alpine Mountain Wines

Valtellina Savoie Aosta Alto-Adige

Well made wines from higher altitudes are finding more favor with wine lovers. That is, wines emphasizing a breezy finesse, outgoing aromatics and with surprising depth without heavier weightiness found in “bigger” wines.

Below we offer an exceptional quintet to choose from.

VALTELLINA

Boffalora Alpi Retiche IGT “Umo” 2020
Look out Piedmont, nebbiolo, planted for centuries in Valtellina is coming on strong, very strong. We can think of no better example than Beppe’s (pictured above) work in the high altitude of Valtellina. His Alpi Retiche nebbiolo “Umo” is a delicious, airy and powerful red with floral notes and a touch of licorice - try this wine over a few days after opening. $26.50

SAVOIE

Domaine Belluard Les Perles du Mont Blanc (2019)
Such a beautiful sparkling wine, (!!) beautifully balanced and with great length. One of the finest wines with bubbles we’ve had from France. Made from finely tending vines - all gringet - with a clean and alive essence, captivating for sure. Highly recommended. $44.00

AOSTA

La Vrille Vallee d'Aoste DOC Pinot Noir 2016
Two of us independently said the same thing about this wonderful pinot - it is not Burgundy and it is not Oregon, but rather it has its own (awesome) identity. Vallée d’Aosta is the premiere zone in Italy for Pinot noir (virtually the same latitude as our Willamette Valley) and this wine demonstrates why. From SW-facing vines at about 600 meters (that’s up there), this pinot is both fleshy, full, coiled and energized. Highly recommended and drinking beautifully right now. $37.00

ALTO-ADIGE

Weingut Ebner Sudtirol Zweigelt 2020
Our first visit to the Ebners, now closing in on a decade ago, we tasted their first vintage of their then three year old Zweigelt vines - some four or five rows only. The small family-run winery is way up high in Alto-Adige an hour or so south of the Austrian border where the Zweigelt grape was created as a cross between Blaufrankisch and St Laurent. Today the Ebner’s high mountain zweigelt grape - a cross between Blaufrankisch and St Laurent -shows all spice-box and cheery soft tannins: somewhere between pinot noir and barbera. It is a classic mountain red with outgoing aromatics of wet earth and dark berry fruit, delicious really. $35.00

Franz Gojer Lagrein Granat 2022
Northern Alto-Adige’s lagrein grape exudes the combination of the fresh mountain climate and the rock rich slopes of the mountain sides the vineyards cling too. Granat,the archetype red of Alto-Adige, with its lightness, offers at the same a depth and identity not found in many parts of the wine world. Soft, and not-by-tannin-powerful, it is delicious and inviting: a red that stops you after a sip and makes you think just a bit. $29.00