On the road from Turin to Mont Blanc, in the heart of Val d’Aosta, surrounded by mountains, at 900 meters of altitude, is the ancient village of Morgex. A stone’s throw away from touristy Courmayeur, it seems as if time has stopped and life runs at a slower, more human pace. The terraced vineyards, planted with Prie’ Blanc grapes, make Morgex the cradle of the delicate Blanc de Morgex et de la Salle, a dry, crisp, steely, mineraly, brightly acidic, delicate wine in the subzone of the only DOC of the region.

Val d’Aosta is the smallest and least populated Italian region, with two official languages (French and Italian) and only 500 hectares planted with grapes, 60% of which are in the mountains, 35% on the hills, and only 5% on the plain. This is one of the lands of heroic viticulture, where terraced grapevines hanging on steep slopes must be tended by hand. The main training system is the pergola, hard for workers but perfect for the grapes that can take maximum advantage of sunlight and heat. Here, vines and wine history date back to the Bronze Age, but only with the foundation of Aosta (the Latin Augusta Praetoria) by the Romans in 25 BC to guard the mountain passes did vineyards acquire agricultural importance.

The first and only DOC, “Valle d’Aosta” or “Vallee d’Aoste,” was set in 1971 with seven subzones, one of which is the Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle in the Upper Valley, where grapevines are ungrafted (the cold temperature and elevation did not then and do not now allow phylloxera to damage these plants) and at some of the highest altitudes in Europe (1200 m). We visited Piero Brunet, who owns some of the best vineyards in a grand cru terroir for this variety that he bought from Bougeat, one day in May, and he opened a window on a whole world. A world of immense spaces and awe-inspiring mountains where one can hear the leaves rustling even in the softest breeze, where the light is so sharp that vine leaves seem as if drawn with an invisible pen.

He drove us along a path that is only open in spring and summer when the snow melts and gifted us with a unique view of Monte Bianco, Mont Blanc, the white mountain, because it is always dressed with snow in any season. Gazing over this breathtaking view, Piero tells us the story of Prie’ Blanc and of the man who brought it to fame, Alexandre Bougeat, parish priest of Morgex, who started bottling wine in 1964. Bougeat, who had run away to Switzerland during the Second World War, returned to Morgex after the end of the war and started to buy vineyards to cultivate Prie’ Blanc and experiment with it to produce wine.

Actually, this grapevine has another connection with religion, as, according to etymologists, the name derives from the French prier, pray, as it was used during Mass in order to avoid staining the celebrant’s garb. Mentioned in a document for the first time in 1691, Prie’ Blanc is one of the oldest documented Val d’Aosta varieties and is actually one parent of many other local varieties like Primetta, Roussin de Morgex, Mayolet, Luglienga, and Blanc Commun.

Luigi Veronelli, Brunet continues, told Bougeat that if a catastrophe were to hit and only one vine could be saved, it would be the Prie’ Blanc. Although resistant to phylloxera because of the climate, the extremely thin skin, defined as non-existent by Brunet, almost melts in your mouth but makes it susceptible to botrytis cinerea, noble rot. Trained on low pergolas, it is very early ripening and it is harvested in early September. The wine that is produced from Prie’ Blanc is a dry, fresh, and crisp wine that can be either still or sparkling (made with both the Charmat and Champenoise methods), and there is also a sweet version. Highly acidic and mineraly, Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle could be defined as the quintessential aperitif wine with different characteristics depending on whether it comes from Morgex (poor, mineral soils of morainic origin) or La Salle (morainic-alluvial soils).

The aromas are mountain herbs, hay, thyme, chlorophyll, mint, green apple, green pear, and white flowers, and to me it is as refreshing as drinking pure glacier water. There are several producers of this wine, among which, in alphabetical order, are Piero Brunet (who has chosen to put on the wine label the image of Bougeat’s storage chest), the Cave Mont Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle (a cooperative founded in 1983 by local farmers committed to preserving this unique heritage), Ermes Pavese, Albert Vevey, and Marziano Vevey.

No better way to imagine this wine, for those who have not been lucky enough to taste it, is the description Luigi Veronelli wrote: “With no equal for its essential virtues, straw green color, transparent and joyful, shiny with its ample bouquet, straight—of extreme elegance, dry flavor with no concessions, attentive listener; light, bitter almond aroma and, farther away, blackberry; it has a subtle, metallic backbone and tight but aristocratic character…exceptional breed.”