Valle d’Aosta is an anomaly. It is the smallest of Italy’s 20 regions, with the lowest surface area of vines (just over 450 hectares!) and the lowest amount of wine produced. But it boasts the highest altitude in the country and its vineyards are among the highest in Europe. Though its viticulture origins go back to a primordial era when Celtic-Ligurian tribes inhabited the territory, Valle d’Aosta’s first two appellations were not enacted until the early 1970s and were expanded to a single region-wide appellation 15 years later. The first Consorzio, however, was not formed until 2022; prior to that, Valle d’Aosta was the only region of Italy that did not have an officially recognized group of producers to define, protect, and promote a traditional wine growing area. Valle d’Aosta, one of Italy’s five autonomous regions, has two legal languages — French and Italian, both of which can appear on wine labels — though many residents speak the ancient Valdôtain dialect. After being dominated by Ancient Romans, the Counts of Savoie, the Dukes of Savoia, and Napoleon, Valle d’Aosta is now happily part of the Italian Republic, but occupies its own small cultural and geographical alpine island between Piedmont, France, and Switzerland. Vines are limited to steep slopes along the twisting Dora Baltea River, trained upon pergolas perched in stone terraces which require constant maintenance, and exemplify amazing examples of heroic and super-heroic viticulture. As in many extreme winegrowing areas, numerous grape varieties of Swiss, French, and Italian origin are cultivated in specific enclaves of the territory, along with a high percentage of native varieties that are exclusive to this area. The panoply of diverse cultivars combined with meso- and micro-climates of terroir and altitude result in unique, distinct, and compelling wines. Yet the area is largely overlooked and undervalued. In this class we will zero in on the ‘alpine island’ of Valle d’Aosta by exploring its geography and geology, as well as its cultural and viticultural history, focusing on 8 exceptional wines handcrafted by notable producers from traditional and autochthonous grape varieties from the principal sub-zones.