Five Valle d'Aosta Wines apply for DOC recognition
Staff Writer - March 19, 2008
Five types of wine from the northern Italian region of Valle d'Aosta have applied for the Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) from the local authorities.
The wines are Moscato Bianco, Traminer Aromatico, Gamaret, Erbaluce and Vuillermin.
The Valle d'Aosta region is authorized to assign the DOC since 2004, and currently there are over 1.2 million bottles of Valle D'Aosta wine branded DOC.
There are 38 wine bottling companies in the region, and wine production generates around €7 million (see up-to-date value in other currencies) per year, accounting for 12% of the local agriculture.
The regional vineyards produced 2.7 million kilos (around 5.95 million pounds) of grapes in 2007, which resulted in a 15% drop in production compared to 2006, when Valle d'Aosta produced some 20,000 hectoliters of wine.
In 2007 Valle d'Aosta marketed over 11,000 hectoliters of wine. There are 600 hectares of vineyards in the region, and 60% are in mountainous Alpine areas, 35% are on hillsides, and only 5% are located in valleys.
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