About Les Crêtes
Les Crêtes is a family-owned winery based in Aymavilles, in the Valle d'Aosta region of northwestern Italy. Founded by Costantino Charrère, the estate is one of the most prominent producers in this small Alpine wine region. It is known for wines made from both indigenous varieties such as Petite Arvine, Fumin, and Cornalin, as well as international varieties grown at high-altitude vineyards.
Prices are for take away and shipping. The wine bar serves from its own list.
The winery
About Les Crêtes
History
The Charrère family settled in the Aosta Valley around 1750, coming from France, and worked first as farmers and millers. Over the following generations they moved into food production and then into wine. The first two hectares of vines went in during 1955, planted with local grapes. In 1989 the family enlarged the estate and built the Les Crêtes winery in Aymavilles. The company's own site counts six generations of the family in the valley, and today the next generation works alongside Costantino Charrère.
The land and the vineyards
The vineyards follow the Dora Baltea river, from Arnad and Montjovet in the lower valley up to Villeneuve in the middle valley. The estate farms about 20 hectares in total, on steep slopes cut into terraces, and the largest plot is the Coteau la Tour at Aymavilles. Soils are loose, sandy and morainic, left behind by glaciers, and the climate is dry and windy with strong swings between day and night. This is mountain viticulture: the work is done by hand and the grapes are picked into small crates to keep them intact.
The wines
Les Crêtes is known for putting the local varieties first. Petite Arvine, Fumin, Petit Rouge, Cornalin and Chambave Muscat sit beside Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Nebbiolo and Syrah. The range runs from fresh whites such as Petite Arvine and Chardonnay to reds such as Torrette, Fumin La Cor and Nebbiolo, with a rosé and two sparkling wines, Neblù and Rebàn. Yearly production is about 180,000 to 225,000 bottles.
Today
The Charrère family still runs the estate. Alongside the cellar there is a wine shop and tasting room called Il Rifugio del Vino, and a small cosmetics line called DeVin made from grape products. The winery describes its approach as low impact farming, with small yields from small plots, in one of the highest and smallest wine regions in Italy.
- Founded
- 1989 (winery); family vines from 1955
- Vineyards (hectares)
- About 20
- Main grapes
- Petite Arvine, Fumin, Petit Rouge, Cornalin, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay
- Owners
- Charru00e8re family