Passito from La Crotta Di Vegneron

I love sweet wines but I drink it so seldom. In my winecellar I saw a bottle of passito from La Crotta Di Vegneron so why not try it out? La Crotta Di Vegneron is a cooperative in Valle D'Aosta in Italy and it consist of 75 partners today. The production is approximately 200 000 bottles a year. All the wineyards are facing south and they are at altitudes 500-850 meters above sea level. In 2014 I had the fortune to visit La Crotta Di Vegneron shop in Valle D'Aosta. Unfortunately I could not buy as much as I wanted but a bottle of Chambave Moscato Passito from 2011 I managed to bring home.

Passito wines are made from dried grapes. This Cambave Moscato Pasito has an interesting story as in 1494 George of Challant gave Moscato Passito di Chambave to Charles VIII, King of France. So this golden nectar has been produced for a long time. It consists of 100% Moscato grapes and has an ABV of 13,5%.

The colour of this wine is amber. I think that the three year of extra maturation has deepened the colour. In the nose I can feel aromatic fruits. It smells like a passito from Pantelleria. The taste is sweet and warm. The wine has a taste of dried apricots, honey and very intense. An excellent wine, as good as a passito wine could be. I think that with a few more years the taste would increase even more, alas this was my only bottle. Next year when I hopefully will travel to Valle D'Aosta and then I will make a longer visit to La Crotta Di Vegneron.

A note on the spelling. I write Valle D'Aosta but in the local spelling Valdôtain it is spelled Vallée d'Aoste. And this is the spelling that you see on the bottle.