La Kiuva, 'Rouge de Vallée' 2020

Region: Valle d’Aosta, Italy Varietal: 70% Picotendro (local Nebbiolo clone), 30% Gros Vien, Neyret, Cornalin and Fumin Tasting notes: This wine is light on its feet with cherry fruit leather on the nose and crisp, refreshing cranberry and red fruit flavors on the palate with a long, clean, lightly earthy finish. This has a faint resemblance to Barolo, stemming from the tannic Nebbiolo, but this is much lighter and snappier and not meant to age like Barolo. It’a a wonderfully energetic and refreshing red wine that should have great versatility at dinner time. Producer: Founded in the second half of the 1970s, La Kiuva (lah kee-OO-vah) is a cooperative winery with 50 grower members located in the heart of the Aosta Valley. The word kiuva is local dialect for a “sheaf of leaves” typically gathered in the fall to feed livestock. It’s also a play on the Italian chi uva meaning literally “who grape.” With some of the highest-lying vineyards in the world, the growers of La Kiuva are dev