La Crotta di Vegneron is the grower-cooperative anchoring Chambave in the central Aosta Valley, where 53 winegrowing families farm steeply terraced parcels between 500 and 850 metres altitude. The cellar bottles fifteen Valle d'Aosta DOC labels alongside the Quatremillemètres metodo classico spumanti, with Moscato di Chambave, Nus Malvoisie and Petit Rouge sitting at the heart of the range.
Aosta Valley
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Visit experiences, curated by our editors. Enquire with the winery where booking details are not published.
A guided seated tasting of the cooperative's still and sparkling wines, hosted from the Via Circonvallazione shop in Chambave. Open to individual visitors from one person upwards. The flight is selected by the cooperative team to walk through the Chambave and Nus DOC range, including Moscato di Chambave, Nus Malvoisie and one of the local reds.
EnquireA guided tour of the cooperative's main winemaking facility in Chambave followed by a tasting flight. Available by booking for groups of four or more. The tour walks through the cooperative model and the central Aosta Valley DOC range, finishing with the Petit Rouge, Fumin and Moscato di Chambave that anchor the cellar.
EnquireA walk through the cooperative's terraced parcels in Chambave between 500 and 850 metres altitude, finished with a guided tasting at the cellar. Available by booking for groups of ten or more, with the local Moscato di Chambave and Petit Rouge poured alongside the alpine Quatremillemètres metodo classico.
EnquireA guided seated tasting of the cooperative's still and sparkling wines, hosted from the Via Circonvallazione shop in Chambave. Open to individual visitors from one person upwards. The flight is selected by the cooperative team to walk through the Chambave and Nus DOC range, including Moscato di Chambave, Nus Malvoisie and one of the local reds.
EnquireThe cooperative was founded in 1980 by twenty-five Chambave growers who pooled grapes and a single cellar so the village's farming families could keep bottling under their own name. Today fifty-three families work alongside that founding agreement. The name comes from the Franco-Provençal of the Aosta Valley: 'crotta' is the cellar carved from rock that every village hamlet has, 'vegneron' the local form of the French 'vigneron', meaning winegrower.
The cooperative draws fruit from two of the Valle d'Aosta DOC's central-valley sub-zones: Chambave (which also takes in Châtillon, Saint-Vincent, Saint-Denis and Verrayes) and Nus (with Quart and Fénis). Across roughly 21 hectares of terraced parcels the members hand-farm at slopes of 20 to 35 percent, between 500 and 850 metres altitude. Output sits at 180,000 to 200,000 bottles a year, split across fifteen still Valle d'Aosta DOC labels and the Quatremillemètres metodo classico line of mountain sparklers.
This is alpine viticulture in its most demanding form. Ninety percent of the parcels face south. The microclimate of the central Aosta Valley combines low rainfall, intense daytime sunshine on schist and sandy-glacial soils, and sharp night-time cooling from the surrounding 4,000-metre peaks. The grapes ripen slowly, holding aromatic precision and bright acidity, which the cooperative's winemaking deliberately preserves rather than dressing up.
The flagship is Moscato di Chambave, the white Muscat that has carried Chambave's reputation for centuries. The dry version is precise and floral; the flétri (Italian 'passito') cuvée, dried on racks before pressing, is one of the Aosta Valley's most distinctive sweet wines. From Pinot Gris, called Malvoisie locally, comes Nus Malvoisie. The reds rest on Aostan natives: Petit Rouge for the Chambave Rouge and Torrette blends, Fumin for serious dark-fruited reds, Cornalin and Vien de Nus for lighter alpine reds, and Petite Arvine on the white side. Müller-Thurgau, Gamay and Pinot Noir round out the range.
Two of the cooperative's small-volume projects sit outside the conventional cellar. The Quatremillemètres line is a brace of metodo classico sparklers named for the high peaks ringing the valley. The Vins des Mines selection is finished and aged inside the disused tunnels of the Costa del Pino mine at Cogne, where steady cold, humidity and total darkness slow ageing in a way no above-ground cellar can match. La Crotta also distils a small range of monovarietal grappa from the cooperative's own pomace.
Editorially verified by ItalianWines.co.uk.
Plate I · AOSTA VALLEY
Tastings
Tours
Accommodation
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