Petite Arvine Fleur Aosta Valley PDO 2019

To tell this story it is only right to start with Elena and Eleonora, born in 1977 and 1980, who, as sunny as their mother Imelda, had the very important task of procuring ladybugs: yes, ladybugs! They were searched for and picked up in the mountain meadows, near Ozein, half an hour from Aymavilles, placed in small cardboard boxes and carefully transported during the day to be released into the vineyard where they would do their work by devouring the harmful mites: the little girls, amused by much more than a game, had no choice but to stop and watch. No, it was not a fairy tale, it was a simple choice made by the Charrère family, which has always, throughout its history, paid attention to concrete things. It was the great-great-grandfather Bernardin Charrère, coming from what is now Haute-Savoie, who immigrated to Aymavilles around 1750. There he built the building that still exists today with cellars and an oil mill for walnuts. Great-grandfather Etienne continued the activity by also adding the production of cider according to the needs of the fashion and economy of the time through the addition of an additional millstone. Grandfather Louis then built a mill in order to grind wheat, rye and barley because once again this was what the market wanted and whoever is farsighted knows how to recognize the signs of time by adapting. Antoine, father of Costantino, who succeeded him, continued the activity until 1955 when olive oil and milled grain began to arrive from outside the valley. It was again necessary to convert and the line chosen this time was the one of fine wines. Once again the attention was focused on the public and in order to better distinguish themselves they began a work of personalization at the level of cultivation (crus vinified separately), commercial (indication of geographic locations of each vineyard), and historical (loyalty to the native vines that would have made the Aosta Valley great such as petit rouge, fumin, prié rouge, tinturier). Costantino, an athletic professor of gymnastics, like his wife, and ski instructor, continued the work of his father Antoine and mother Ida, dedicating himself with passion to viticulture. At first he selected vines that otherwise would have been lost in the mountains of Valle d'Aosta: the Premetta (Prié Rouge), a very rare vine in danger of extinction, whose grapes are now vinified in purity according to an innovative protocol in classic method sparkling wine, and the Fumin, another "autochthonous" strain, saved from extinction and vinified with striking results, so much so as to merit the attention of national critics in 1999 with "Il sole di Luigi Veronelli". Afterwards, having left teaching, Costantino was pushed by the desire of dedicating himself completely to his passion for wine and he created what is now Les Crêtes, always in Aymavilles, planting new vineyards in other communes of Valle d'Aosta as well. Today, the winery, owned by the Charrère family, manages 20 hectares of vineyards distributed in six municipalities of Valle d'Aosta. With its annual production of 180,000 bottles, it is the largest private winery operating in the region.