Ermes Pavese Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle 2024

Ermes Pavese Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle 2024

Ermes Pavese
$36.00

Grape: Prié Blanc
Vintage: 2024
Type: White

Sourced from extreme high-altitude vineyards in the Aosta Valley, this white wine highlights a traditional look at the indigenous prié blanc variety. Ermes Pavese manages these steep terraced plots manually, where the ungrafted vines struggle through stony mountain topsoils to lock in high acidity. The hand-picked grapes undergo a spontaneous native yeast fermentation inside neutral stainless steel tanks, avoiding wood barrels. It rests on its fine fermentation lees to maintain its crystalline purity prior to bottling.

It displays a straw hue with green highlights, opening with a fresh bouquet of citrus rind, white stone fruit, and wild mountain herbs. On the palate, the light-bodied frame is fresh and invigorating, balancing crunchy fruit notes with a mineral tension. A sharp wave of alpine acidity runs through the center, keeping the fluid mouthfeel thoroughly refreshed. The clean steel aging provides a smooth profile that coordinates with a clean finish marked by salinity.

n the highest reaches of the Val d'Aoste beneath Mont Blanc, Ermes Pavese harnesses the Prie grape to express the majesty of his alpine terroir. Located in the hamlet of La Ruine, between Morgex and La Salle, the estate has been making wine since 1999, when Pavese began marketing the family's production under the advice of Marziano Vevey. Starting with only 2 ha of vineyards, Ermes has, in recent years, assembled numerous parcels scattered around Morgex and La Salle to increase his total holdings to about 6 ha. At about 1,200 meters above sea level, these are some of the highest vineyards in Europe.

Prie is the oldest documented cultivar in the Val d'Aoste, and is among the oldest in all of Italy. Genetic parent to, among others, Premetta and Mayolet, it gives crystalline wines of vivacity and precision when tended by a conscientious grower like Pavese. Pavese's vines, trained in the traditional Pergola Bassa system, are so isolated at the end of this valley that they are still planted on their original rootstocks, not threatened by the Phylloxera louse that devastated nearly all of Europe's vineyards at the end of the 19th century. Producing still, sparkling, skin-macerated and sweet wines, this domaine shows the majesty that wines of the alps can achieve. Illuminating in their youth, recent tastings with some of the Pavese's oldest vintages illustrates the profundity and complexity that his wines take on after significant bottle age.