Writer: Marcella Pace
Grapes grown in small vineyards on the slopes of Mont Blanc at an altitude of 1200 meters have long been frozen and are only harvested at night around November when the temperature drops to -6 or even -10 degrees. The lightly oxidised traits are reminiscent of wines made via the grape drying method in the southernmost regions of Italy. Chaudelune, from the Morgex vineyard at Cave MontBlanc de Morgex et la Salle in the far north, is an incredible ice wine that highlights the characteristics of ice wine while also reflecting the southern Italian tradition. On the other hand, the traditional method of making sparkling wine is carried out in a high-altitude cellar, built at an altitude of 2,200 meters. An even more heroic example is the viticulture of the Mont Blanc de Morgex et la Salle winery. This is an agricultural cooperative founded in the late 1970s and early 1980s on a small plot of land in the heart of the Alps, surrounded by the four highest peaks in Italy: Mont Blanc, at 4810 meters, is the highest mountain in Europe, followed by Severino (4478 meters), Monte Rosa (4634 meters) and the Grande Terre (4061 meters). The winery’s business model began in the post-war period,” says Nicolas Bovard, president of the agricultural cooperative, “back when he was a young winegrower and a new parish priest came to Morgex and started winemaking experiments. With his help, all the winegrowers started producing their own wines and selling them. However, it was always difficult to go it alone, so the first winemaking cooperatives took shape and then gradually evolved into the winery of today”.
For almost 40 years, the winemaking cooperative has been committed to continuous research and improve the quality of its products. Today it covers around 18 hectares of vineyards, 14 of which are entrusted to the cooperative. In addition to supplying the grapes, they are also actively involved in the development of the winery,” says Bovard. In addition, the winery has four hectares of vineyards for its own wine production.
The vineyards grow bravely between 900 and 1280 meters above sea level.” We still respect the low trellised vine racking system, which makes any form of mechanized handling impossible. Vineyard operations, such as pruning, defoliation and harvesting, are entirely manual. Our small plots are also very scattered, with the largest vineyards at 2000 meters above sea level, so we have to climb constantly, which makes tending the vineyards very difficult and complex. The highest vineyards are terraced, but thankfully the slopes are not too steep.
The soils of the wine-growing regions are mostly glacial and the terroir characteristics of the grapes vary due to small differences in direct sunlight levels and climate. In recent years, there has been a growing concern about climate change. In the last five to six harvests, the variability of yields has been evident. The hot weather in 2015 and the spring frosts in 2017 caused a loss of almost 98% of production, while in 2016 and 2018 the harvest started a month and a half earlier due to the high temperatures, an interesting change from the traditional mid-September start.
In these almost prohibitive conditions, the cooperative remains committed to producing two excellent ice wines: a cava aged at high altitude, and an ice wine, Chaudelune.
Cuvée des Guides – An ice sparkling wine
Château Mont Blanc is the only winery in Valle d’Aosta to have been awarded the denomination of controlled origin (DOC) for its sparkling wines, which are made using traditional winemaking methods. Its sparkling ice wine techniques are based on those developed in the Champagne region and have been promoted by the Valle d’Aosta winemaking cooperative since 1983. The winery selects grapes from the Valle d’Aosta regionIn 2003,” recalls Bovard, “in a project with the alpine forces of Courmayeur, we began to test how winemaking at high altitude would change the quality of the wine. We started by setting up a very modest cellar at 2,500 meters, with pressing and first fermentation taking place in the cellar at Morgex, and then moving to higher altitudes for ageing. over 20 years we have found that at higher altitudes the yeast fermentation slows down and the bubbles change, with the pearly bubbles becoming more delicate. We are now collaborating with the University of Turin on research to understand more of the real changes on a chemical level. We have now set up a real winery at Pavillon du Mont Fréty, on the aerial lift of Mont Blanc at 2,173 meters, where we are producing a thousand bottles of Cuvée des Guides, which need to be aged for at least 36 months at such a high altitude.
An ice sparkling wine called Chaudelune
The production of this Chaudelune ice wine is very sparse, with only 2,000 bottles. Using white grape varieties, the harvest is chosen to take place at night at the end of November, usually starting around 3.30 A.M. . Pressing of the frozen grapes must begin before dawn.” Bovard explains that we follow a strict technical approach to ice wine making, leaving the grapes in the vineyard and waiting until the end of November, leaving them completely frozen before harvest. As a lot of water is left in the presses during the pressing, there is a high concentration of pulp in the cellar,” Bovard explains. The choice of harvesting at the end of November also took into account the effect of mould on the vines, so careful selection had to be made.”
The wine is aged for 12 months in different barrels, many of which are made from local woods such as pear, apple, juniper and cherry.” There is very little space at the top of the barrels,” he says, so there is a slight oxidation of the product, which is usual for passito wines in southern Italy. We are trying to open up a path of innovation that lies between the northern and southern methods of winemaking.