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Valle D'Aosta (DOC)
The Valle d'Aosta DOC (or Vallée d'Aoste DOC, in French) is an Italian ''denominazione di origine controllata'' located in the Aosta Valley of northwest Italy. Surrounded by the Alps, the Valle d'Aosta is home to the highest elevated vineyards in all of Europe. The principal winemaking region of the Valle d'Aosta is found along the eastern banks of the Dora Baltea ( fr., ''Doire baltée'') river with the city of Aosta serving as the central winemaking location. The region is divided into three main vineyard areas; the upper valley, Valdigne, the central valley (locally ''Valle centrale'' in Italian, ''Vallée centrale'' in French) and the lower valley, (locally ''Bassa valle'' in Italian, ''Basse vallée'' in French). To the south is the winemaking region of Piedmont. The Valle d'Aosta is Italy's smallest winemaking region both in terms of size and production with only about 330,000 cases produced annually in the region and only 36,000 cases produced under the DOC label. Seventy f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Italy Regions Aosta Valley Map
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical region. Italy is also considered part of Western Europe, and shares land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the enclaved microstates of Vatican City and San Marino. It has a territorial exclave in Switzerland, Campione. Italy covers an area of , with a population of over 60 million. It is the third-most populous member state of the European Union, the sixth-most populous country in Europe, and the tenth-largest country in the continent by land area. Italy's capital and largest city is Rome. Italy was the native place of many civilizations such as the Italic peoples and the Etruscans, while due to its central geographic location in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, the country has also historically been home t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petit Rouge
Petit Rouge is a red Italian wine grape variety that ampelographers believe is indigenous to the Valle d'Aosta (french: Vallée d'Aoste) region of northwest Italy.J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Guide to Wine Grapes'' pg 136 Oxford University Press 1996 However, there is some confusion about whether Petit Rouge is the same variety as the red Swiss wine grape Rouge de Valais. J. Robinson ''Vines, Grapes & Wines'' pg 210 Mitchell Beazley 1986 The grape is somewhat obscure and is not widely grown outside the Valle d'Aosta where it is primarily a blending variety but some varietal wines are produced. Oz Clarke & M. Rand ''Encyclopedia of Grapes'' pg 167 Webster International Publishers In blends, it adds floral aroma notes and dark color to the wines. Wine regions Petit Rouge is primarily found in the Valle d'Aosta region of northwest Italy between Piedmont and the Alps separating Italy from France and Switzerland. In general, altitude determines which varieties of grapes may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sparkling Wine
Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne region of France. Sparkling wine is usually either white or rosé, but there are examples of red sparkling wines such as the Italian Brachetto, Bonarda and Lambrusco, and the Australian sparkling Shiraz. The sweetness of sparkling wine can range from very dry ''brut'' styles to sweeter ''doux'' varieties (French for 'hard' and 'soft', respectively).J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pp 656–660, Oxford University Press 2006 . The sparkling quality of these wines comes from its carbon dioxide content and may be the result of natural fermentation, either in a bottle, as with the traditional method, in a large tank designed to withstand the pressures involved (as in the Charmat process), or as a result of simp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sea Level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised geodetic datumthat is used, for example, as a chart datum in cartography and marine navigation, or, in aviation, as the standard sea level at which atmospheric pressure is measured to calibrate altitude and, consequently, aircraft flight levels. A common and relatively straightforward mean sea-level standard is instead the midpoint between a mean low and mean high tide at a particular location. Sea levels can be affected by many factors and are known to have varied greatly over geological time scales. Current sea level rise is mainly caused by human-induced climate change. When temperatures rise, Glacier, mountain glaciers and the Ice sheet, polar ice caps melt, increasing the amount of water in water bodies. Because most of human settlem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Courmayeur
Courmayeur (; Valdôtain: ) is a town and ''comune'' in northern Italy, in the autonomous region of Aosta Valley. History The toponym ''Courmayeur'' has been mentioned as ''Curia majori'' (1233–1381), ''Corte Maggiore'' (1620), ''Cormoyeu'' (1648), ''Cormaior'' (1680), ''Cormaior'' (Vissher, 1695), ''Cormaggior'' (L'Isle, 1707), ''Cormaior'' (Stagnoni, 1772) and ''Cormaieur'' (Martinel, 1799). The present toponym was first confirmed by Édouard Aubert (''La Vallée d'Aoste'', 1860), Joseph-Marie Henry (''Histoire populaire de la Vallée d'Aoste'', 1929) and Amé Gorret (''Guide de la Vallée d'Aoste'', 1877). It became a popular tourist destination when alpinism arose, thanks to its proximity to Mont Blanc. Under the Fascist regime and its "Italianist" rule, the town was briefly renamed ''Cormaiore''. Courmayeur was reestablished in 1948 alongside all other French toponyms in the Aosta Valley. The Mont Blanc Tunnel, connecting Courmayeur with Chamonix, opened in 1965, and pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gravel
Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classified by particle size range and includes size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. In the Udden-Wentworth scale gravel is categorized into granular gravel () and pebble gravel (). ISO 14688 grades gravels as fine, medium, and coarse, with ranges 2–6.3 mm to 20–63 mm. One cubic metre of gravel typically weighs about 1,800 kg (or a cubic yard weighs about 3,000 lb). Gravel is an important commercial product, with a number of applications. Almost half of all gravel production is used as aggregate for concrete. Much of the rest is used for road construction, either in the road base or as the road surface (with or without asphalt or other binders.) Naturally occurring porous gravel deposits have a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay particles, but become hard, brittle and non–plastic upon drying or firing. Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impurities, such as a reddish or brownish colour from small amounts of iron oxide. Clay is the oldest known ceramic material. Prehistoric humans discovered the useful properties of clay and used it for making pottery. Some of the earliest pottery shards have been dated to around 14,000 BC, and clay tablets were the first known writing medium. Clay is used in many modern industrial processes, such as paper making, cement production, and chemical filtering. Between one-half and two-thirds of the world's population live or work in buildings made with clay, often ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alluvial
Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is typically geologically young and is not consolidated into solid rock. Sediments deposited underwater, in seas, estuaries, lakes, or ponds, are not described as alluvium. Floodplain alluvium can be highly fertile, and supported some of the earliest human civilizations. Definitions The present consensus is that "alluvium" refers to loose sediments of all types deposited by running water in floodplains or in alluvial fans or related landforms. However, the meaning of the term has varied considerably since it was first defined in the French dictionary of Antoine Furetière, posthumously published in 1690. Drawing upon concepts from Roman law, Furetière defined ''alluvion'' (the F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sand
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of soil or soil type; i.e., a soil containing more than 85 percent sand-sized particles by mass. The composition of sand varies, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal settings is silica (silicon dioxide, or SiO2), usually in the form of quartz. Calcium carbonate is the second most common type of sand, for example, aragonite, which has mostly been created, over the past 500million years, by various forms of life, like coral and shellfish. For example, it is the primary form of sand apparent in areas where reefs have dominated the ecosystem for millions of years like the Caribbean. Somewhat more rarely, sand may be composed of calciu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vineyard Soils
The soil composition of vineyards is one of the most important viticultural considerations when planting grape vines. The soil supports the root structure of the vine and influences the drainage levels and amount of minerals and nutrients that the vine is exposed to. The ideal soil condition for a vine is a layer of thin topsoil and subsoil that sufficiently retains water but also has good drainage so that the roots do not become overly saturated. The ability of the soil to retain heat and/or reflect it back up to the vine is also an important consideration that affects the ripening of the grapes.T. Stevenson ''"The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia"'' pg 16 Dorling Kindersley 2005 There are several minerals that are vital to the health of vines that all good vineyard soils have. These include calcium which helps to neutralize the Soil pH levels, iron which is essential for photosynthesis, magnesium which is an important component of chlorophyll, nitrogen which is assimilated in the form ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harvest (wine)
The harvesting of wine grapes (Vintage) is one of the most crucial steps in the process of wine-making. The time of harvest is determined primarily by the ripeness of the grape as measured by sugar, acid and tannin levels with winemakers basing their decision to pick based on the style of wine they wish to produce. The weather can also shape the timetable of harvesting with the threat of heat, rain, hail, and frost which can damage the grapes and bring about various vine diseases. In addition to determining the time of the harvest, winemakers and vineyard owners must also determine whether to use hand pickers or mechanical harvesters. The harvest season typically falls between August & October in the Northern Hemisphere and February & April in the Southern Hemisphere. With various climate conditions, grape varieties, and wine styles the harvesting of grapes could happen in every month of the calendar year somewhere in the world. In the New World it is often referred to as the '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Continental Climate (wine)
In viticulture, the climates of wine regions are categorised based on the overall characteristics of the area's climate during the growing season. While variations in macroclimate are acknowledged, the climates of most wine regions are categorised (somewhat loosely based on the Köppen climate classification) as being part of a Mediterranean (for example Tuscany), maritime (ex: Bordeaux) or continental climate (ex: Columbia ValleyA. Mumma 'The Washington wine difference: it's in the vineyard'' Wines & Vines, November 2005). The majority of the world's premium wine production takes place in one of these three climate categories in locations between the 30th parallel and 50th parallel in both the northern and southern hemisphere.T. Stevenson ''"The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia"'' pg 14-15 Dorling Kindersley 2005 While viticulture does exist in some tropical climates, most notably Brazil, the amount of quality wine production in those areas is so small that the climate effect has n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
