Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
has been applied to many other varieties (it
refers to early ripening grapes).
Lorenzo Gatta (1838) did a masterful job of
describing all of Valle d'Aosta's varieties and
left an impressive body of information detailing
Prié's presence in the region, telling us almost
everything we need to know. Prié was the only
vine able to survive the brutally cold conditions
of Morgex, La Salle, Valpellin, and Allein, and
grapes were harvested either in August (to pro-
duce a very fresh, high-acid wine) or at the end
of September (for fuller-bodied wines). Outside
the Alta Valle, that northernmost third of the
Valle d'Aosta region that hugs the French bor-
der, Prié was usually consumed locally as a
table grape. Mario Vevey of the Albert Vevey
estate likes to point out that Prié behaves like a
wild vine and if left to its own will grow very
long shoots and quickly wrap itself around nat-
ural supports such as trees. He thinks the cul-
tivar is a resistant one save for the fact that its
thin skins make it easily subject to botrytis. In
Valle d'Aosta there are more than twenty-fi ve
hectares of Prié, and it grows practically every-
where in the upper third of the valley. Accord-
ing to Vouillamoz and Moriondo (2011), there
is also a scant 0.02 hectare in Spain's Castilla y
Léon zone, where the variety is called Legiruela.
what are normally enamel-cringing levels of
acidity. With a little practice, it's not hard to tell
where most of the grapes in a particular wine
come from. A great Blanc de Morgex et La Salle
is a thing of beauty: fresh and fragrant, with
aromas and fl avors of thyme, chlorophyll, mint,
green apple, and white fl owers. In warmer
years hints of apricot emerge. There are also
sweet and sparkling versions made (not sur-
prising, given the variety's high natural acidi-
ties), but the best wines are the dry ones. Blanc
de Morgex et La Salle is the ultimate aperitif
wine, but one that matches remarkably well
with simple fi sh and vegetables dishes too.
There are fewer wines I would rather drink on
a hot summer day; but then, I like to drink it in
the dead of winter too.
wines to try:
Cave de Morgex et La Salle***
(the entry-level wine and the creamier Rayon;
the sparkling wines, made both by the Charmat
method and by Champagne's technique of
refermentation in the bottle, are also outstand-
ing), Piero Brunet*** (owns some of the best
vineyards of all in a
grand cru terroir
for the vari-
ety), Albert Vevey***, Marziano Vevey**, and
Ermès Pavese*.
Prié Rouge
where it's found:
Valle d'Aosta.
national
registry code number:
312.
color:
red.
Though the offi cial name of this variety in
the National Registry is Prié Rouge, everyone
in Italy calls it Prëmetta. In 1982 Luigi Vero-
nelli spoke to me enthusiastically about
Prëmetta and Fumin, two native varieties of the
Valle d'Aosta I had never heard about. That was
enough to set me off on a wine-hunting mis-
sion in Roman wineshops, where I discovered a
slightly dusty bottle of prëmetta. It was love at
fi rst sight: I liked the label, and even more I
liked the light pinkish liquid that poured from
the bottle. The grape itself is lovely to look at:
large, pretty, rosy pink berries and opulent clus-
ters spilling out from the vines that make you
want to start eating. In fact, Prëmetta was long
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Prié is the source of one of Italy's best light-
bodied white wines: the Blanc de Morgex et La
Salle, the only wine of any commercial signifi -
cance in the Alta Valle. The highest-quality
grapes come from the vineyards around the
towns that give the wine its name. I think that
the very best grapes come from the Morgex
area, blessed with poor, mineral soils of
morainic origin, which yield wines that are
steely, fl oral, and brightly acidic. In Morgex,
Vevey believes the very good
cru
is Eicheru,
while Nicola Del Negro of the Cave du Vin
Blanc thinks that La Piagne vineyard is also a
grand cru.
The wines of La Salle, due to differ-
ent morainic-alluvial soils, are less steely and
softer, and when blended with those of Morgex
help round out the fi nal wine by diminishing
