Didier Gerbelle - Petit Rouge Vigne Plan 2016 (750ml)

   

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Producer	Didier Gerbelle
Country	Italy
Region	Valle d’Aosta
Varietal	Petit Rouge
Vintage	2016
Sku	30790
Size	750ml

The Petit Rouge Vigne Plan is made of 100% Petit Rouge, a red grape native to the region. It’s often described as making light and fruity red wines, but this bottle also reminds me a bit of a less heavy German Pinot Noir (smoky and wild). Grapes are hand harvested, destemmed, fermented in stainless steel, and aged in very big 10 hectoliter botte for one year before bottling. Smoky cherry, raspberry, plums, wild berries, and a slight nuttiness on the finish. Only 400 cases made!

Their Story: Valle d’Aosta is an Autonomous region in Italy’s extreme north. This French and Italian speaking area is roughly the same size as Rhode Island but with about 12% of the population as Rhode Island! Wine production here is small and difficult due in part to the geography: extremely high altitudes, steep slopes, and general rural nature of the territory. It’s no wonder people rarely come across bottles like this month’s release in the US. Didier Gerbelle represents an exciting future for Valle d’Aosta wine. Though his winery is young (wasn’t established until 2006), he is a fourth generation winegrower whose natural habitat seems to be the alpine vineyard. From a young age he shadowed his grandfather in the vineyard, then attended oenology school in Piedmont. Today, he is on a mission to make pure varietal expressions of his home region’s grapes. 

Their approach: Didier holds just under 3 hectares of vines, all farmed by hand and without chemical applications of any type. They grow a variety of indigenous varieties like Petit Rouge, Cornalin (Broblanc biotype), Premetta and the red-berried Fumin. Alongside these they also grow white grape varieties like Pinot Grigio, Gewurztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, and Viognier among others. In the winery grapes are typically fermented in stainless steel to preserve aromatics and aged in the traditional Italian botte style barrel (=very large, old, and typically oval in shape).