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Azienda Vitivinicola Les Crêtes
Les Crêtes is the Charrère family winery in Aymavilles, in the middle of the Aosta Valley. The village is the heartland of Torrette, a local red of the Valle d'Aosta DOC. Costantino Charrère founded the estate in 1989. Today it farms thirty-five hectares of alpine vines, about 49 football pitches, spread over eleven villages. Native grapes such as Fumin and Petit Rouge grow beside Chardonnay. That Chardonnay, sold as Cuvée Bois, put the valley's white wines on the national map.
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Aosta Valley
- Est. 1989
- 4 wines
- Tastings
- Tours
- Accommodation
- Booking required
Est. 1989 
4 wines 
Tastings
Tours
Accommodation
Booking required Wines from Azienda Vitivinicola Les Crêtes
About Azienda Vitivinicola Les Crêtes
The Charrère family reached Aymavilles in 1750, crossing the Alps from Grenoble. For six generations they farmed grain, walnut oil and cider. Then Costantino Charrère, once a gymnastics teacher and ski instructor, turned the household to wine. He registered Les Crêtes in 1989. The eighteenth-century watermill and the cellars on Via Moulins, protected as heritage since 1983, still anchor the property. His daughters Elena and Eleonora run the winery today.
The vines cover thirty-five hectares, split into about 180 small parcels across eleven villages. They run from Saint Pierre and Aymavilles out to Gressan, Sarre, Aosta and Saint Christophe. The slopes are steep banks of glacial sand and stone above the Dora Baltea river. Sixteen grape varieties grow here. Native Fumin, Petit Rouge, Premetta, Petite Arvine, Mayolet and Cornalin stand beside Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah and Merlot.
Two wines anchor the range. Cuvée Bois is a Chardonnay fermented in oak barrels. It became a reference white for the Italian Alps. Fumin La Cor comes from a single plot of Fumin, a native red grape Costantino helped save from dying out. It won Veronelli's Sole d'Oro prize in 1999. Around them sit Petite Arvine, a Torrette Superiore built on Petit Rouge, and the Pinot Noir Revei. A small line of sparkling wines, made by the classic method, is led by Reban Pas Dosé and Neblu Brut Nature Rosé.
Visitors taste at the Rifugio del Vino, a room designed by the architect Domenico Mazza of Courmayeur. It is shaped like a mountain refuge, with a folded metal roof and walls of glass. The windows frame the Côteau La Tour vineyard and its medieval watchtower. Tastings run by reservation. The shortest is a sixty-minute, three-wine flight at twenty-five euros a head. The longest is a two-hour walk through Côteau La Tour that ends with a toast inside the tower.
The estate follows SQNPI, Italy's national scheme for greener grape growing, and has run on solar power since 2007. Its bottles are being made lighter to cut transport emissions. Its stoppers are plant-based and fully biodegradable, with no carbon footprint. The approach set in 1989 has not changed: small parcels, steep slopes, and native Aostan grapes kept alive by hand.
Plate I · AOSTA VALLEY
Azienda Vitivinicola Les Crêtes on the Aosta Valley wine atlas
Wine area
Central Valley: Torrette and Enfer d'Arvier
The valley's broadest sub-zone, where Petit Rouge dominates the blend and the Enfer amphitheatre concentrates summer heat.
Denominations Produced
Valle d'Aosta/Vallée d'AosteDOC
Grapes Used
Wine grape
Wine grape
Wine grape
Wine grape
Winery
Azienda Vitivinicola Les Crêtes
Aymavilles, Aosta · Central Valley: Torrette and Enfer d'Arvier
Denominations Produced
Wine areaDOC
Grapes Used
Wine grape
Wine grape
Wine grape
Wine grape
Visiting Azienda Vitivinicola Les Crêtes
Editorially verified by ItalianWines.co.uk.
Tastings
Available
Tours
Available
Accommodation
Not available
Booking
Required
Bookable online
3 experiences
Experiences at Azienda Vitivinicola Les Crêtes
3 experiences at the estate, checked by our editors. Booking completes on the estate's own site or on the platform the estate uses. We never take payment.
Hosted by the estate3 available
3 Wines Experience
Tasting of three Les Crêtes wines at the Rifugio del Vino, paired with a guided tour of the working winery and the cellar.
60 minutes
From EUR 25 per person
Book direct
Wine and Cheese Experience
Tasting of five Les Crêtes wines paired with six Aostan cheeses, with a guided visit to the winery and the barrique cellar.
90 minutes
From EUR 49 per person
Book direct
Côteau La Tour Experience
Guided walk through the historic Côteau La Tour vineyard, a tasting of five Les Crêtes wines paired with a board of Aostan gastronomy at the Rifugio del Vino, and a final toast inside the medieval tower.
120 minutes
From EUR 79 per person
Book direct
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Estates without an online listing are reachable directly. Phone and email are in Practical info.
3 Wines Experience
Tasting of three Les Crêtes wines at the Rifugio del Vino, paired with a guided tour of the working winery and the cellar.
60 minutes
From EUR 25 per person
Book direct
Plan your visit
Località Villetos, 50, 11010 Aymavilles, Aosta (Valle d'Aosta)
Common questions
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Les Crêtes is in Aymavilles, in the central Aosta Valley. The estate sits about ten kilometres west of the city of Aosta, on the SR20 road above the Dora Baltea river. The cellars and tasting room are on the historic Charrère property at Località Villetos. They look out over the Côteau La Tour vineyard and its medieval tower.
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