Danilo Thomain Enfer d'Arvier 2019

Danilo Thomain's Enfer d'Arvier is made from 100% Petit Rouge, an indigenous Valle d'Aosta grape, grown on brutally steep, south-facing granite terraces in the hamlet of Arvier. The vineyard sits between 680 and 800 meters above the Dora Baltea river, within a five-hectare amphitheater-shaped appellation that is the second-highest red wine growing zone in the valley. Thomain farms roughly one hectare here, making him the sole independent bottler in the entire DOC. Vines are worked entirely by hand, some reaching upward of 95 years old.

The wine ferments spontaneously after total destemming in fiberglass and stainless-steel tanks. Cuvaison lasts around two weeks with pumpovers. It then ages approximately nine months on fine lees in stainless steel before being bottled unfined and unfiltered with a minimal sulfur addition. Annual production is roughly 2,500 bottles, the majority of which is allocated to the US market through Rosenthal Wine Merchant.

In the glass, this is a saturated deep ruby-red. The nose brings black cherry, wild berry, mountain flowers, and a streak of earthiness with notes of licorice and flint. Extreme diurnal swings at altitude produce that distinctive tension between ripe, luscious fruit and a sharp, driving acidity. Tannins are fine-grained and present but never grippy. This is a wine that can age: a 2008 tasted in recent years still showed well.

Enfer d'Arvier translates literally as 'The Hell of Arvier,' a reference to the intense summer heat that builds in this bowl-shaped site despite the high elevation. The appellation received DOC status in 1972, making it one of the first sub-zones in the Valle d'Aosta to be formally recognized. Viticultural records in the zone date back to the 13th century.