Grosjean, Cornalin Vigne Rovettaz Vallee d'Aoste, 2022

Tucked into Italy’s smallest region, Grosjean has long been one of the standard-bearers for mountain wine with a sense of place. Cornalin (also known locally as Humagne Rouge) is native here—fickle, late-ripening, and quietly expressive when grown in the right pocket of slope and sun.

Vigne Rovettaz sits on steep, terraced granite soils at over 600 meters elevation. Farming is organic, the cellar work gentle. The 2022 vintage shows exactly what makes alpine reds so compelling: not power, but clarity. There’s a wild, herbal edge to it, but the wine remains lithe and lifted—more about breeze and brush than berries or oak.

This is red wine for people who like transparency. For drinkers drawn to wines that carry the shape of the land, not the hand. Cornalin Rovettaz isn’t trying to impress—it’s trying to endure.