Nus

A sub-zone of the Valle d’Aosta DOC, centered on the village of Nus in the central section of the Alpine valley, on the right bank of the Dora Baltea river. Like all Valle d’Aosta wines, it is produced in extreme conditions: steep terraced vineyards at 500–700 meters, worked almost entirely by hand, on some of the most challenging viticultural land in Europe.

Nus Malvoisie The name is French-influenced (the Valle d’Aosta is bilingual, with a living Francoprovençal patois and Walser German communities in the side valleys). “Malvoisie” here refers not to Malvasia but to a local biotype of Pinot Grigio — identical genetically, but trained and harvested in a distinctly Alpine tradition. The grapes are left to dry on the vine or on racks (flétri) until they shrivel and concentrate their sugars, sometimes well into December. The resulting sweet wine is copper-hued, richly textured, and fragrant with dried apricot, honey, and alpine herbs — among the most complex dessert wines produced anywhere in the Alps.

Nus Rosso Made from Vien de Nus (a rare local variety found only in this commune) blended with Petit Rouge and other local grapes. Rustic, dark, and earthy — a completely different personality from the white.

The Critical Take Nus Malvoisie flétri is one of Italy’s great obscure wines. Tiny production, near-zero export, and extraordinary quality — the kind of wine that justifies seeking out specialist importers.

Vien de Nus The red grape here exists in one commune and effectively nowhere else on earth. It is closely related to Petit Rouge but distinct from it, it ripens later, and it gives a darker, earthier and rather more rustic wine. A variety with a distribution measured in hectares is a fragile thing, and the fact that it has a denomination attached to its name is most of the reason it still exists.

Malvoisie Is Pinot Gris The naming is a genuine trap for the unwary. Malvoisie in the Aosta valley — as in Switzerland, where the same usage persists in the Valais — refers to Pinot Gris and has nothing whatever to do with the Malvasia family. The word travelled as a generic term for a rich white wine and attached itself to different grapes in different valleys.

Picked in December The flétri method here is pushed further than almost anywhere: bunches left on the plant into the cold, or spread in lofts through the first snows, and pressed when they have lost half their weight or more. At this altitude the fruit does not rot, it simply desiccates in clean mountain air, which is why the resulting wine is precise rather than botrytised.

At the Table The flétri with Fontina at eighteen months, blue cheese, or chestnut desserts; the Rosso with carbonada and polenta. Sweet wine at 12–14°C, the red at 15–16°C.

Benchmark Producers Les Granges, Lo Triolet.