Donnas Valle d'Aoste 2019
In stock
Grape Varietal: Nebbiolo (Picotendro), Freisa & Neyret
Country: Italy
Region: Donnas DOC, Valle d'Aosta (Northern Italy, Alps)
The Wine: Caves Coopératives de Donnas is a small mountain cooperative of roughly twenty growers farming 23 hectares at the southern tip of the Valle d'Aosta, where the valley narrows toward the Piedmont border and the Dora Baltea river cuts through granite and schist cliffs. Founded in 1971, it is the dominant producer in this tiny DOC and one of the most compelling cooperatives in Italy. The vineyards are terraced into vertiginous slopes on dry-stone walls, trained on high pergolas — the traditional "topia" — at 350 to 500 meters elevation, with south-southeast exposures and gossamer-thin soils over granite and quartz. Everything is done by hand; grapes travel from vineyard to cantina by monorail.
Nebbiolo here goes by its local name Picotendro and makes up the backbone of the blend, with small additions of Freisa and Neyret — native varieties that soften the tannins and deepen the color. Fermented in temperature-controlled steel, then aged 12 months in large oak botti before bottling.
The 2019 Donnas is Nebbiolo as the Alps make it: leaner, more aromatic, and more transparently mineral than its Langhe cousins. It opens with aromas of wild cherry, dried rose, thyme, and granite dust, lifted by a note of white pepper and mountain herbs. On the palate it is medium-bodied and precise, with firm but fine tannins, vivid acidity, and a long savory finish of red fruit and flinty stone — more harpsichord than cello.
Pairing: Brasato al Barolo or slow-braised beef with root vegetables, Fontina fonduta with toasted bread, a platter of aged Valle d'Aosta charcuterie with rye crackers, or a cold evening mountain dinner of polenta with wild mushrooms and whatever cheese is nearest at hand.
