# Ermes Pavese Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle (2025)

- **Producer:** Azienda Agricola Ermes Pavese
- **Colour:** white
- **Type:** still
- **Grapes:** Prié Blanc
- **Region:** Valle d’Aosta, Italy
- **Style:** Classic
- **Alcohol:** 12.0%
- **Average price:** €35
- **Vegan:** Yes
- **Contains sulphites:** Yes
- **When to drink:** Now or Later
- **Serving temperature:** 8–10 °C
- **Aromas & flavours:** apple, pear, lemon, blossom

## About this wine

Azienda Agricola Ermes Pavese is a benchmark family-run estate located in Italy's high-altitude Valle d'Aosta region. Founded in 1999 in the hamlet of La Ruine, Ermes Pavese works alongside his children Nathan and Ninive to cultivate indigenous Prié Blanc vines within the Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle sub-zone. Situated on dramatic alpine terraces at elevations up to 1,200 meters near Mont Blanc, these extreme vineyard sites feature ancient, ungrafted pre-phylloxera vines that express the pure mountain terroir.

## Interesting facts

- Vineyards are located up to 1,200 meters high near Mont Blanc, among the highest commercial wine sites in Europe.
- Vines are 100% original pre-phylloxera rootstocks because extreme elevation and sandy glacial soils prevented the louse from surviving.
- Prié Blanc features a unique biological cycle: it buds late in spring to avoid frost and ripens early before alpine winter blizzards.

## Food pairing

The wine's crisp alpine acidity and pronounced minerality cut through rich mountain cheeses and cured meats while complementing delicate freshwater fish and poultry without masking their flavors.

## Wine making process

Grapes are manually harvested from traditional low pergola-trained vines (Pergola Bassa) that hug the ground for warmth. Following gentle pneumatic cluster pressing and low-temperature racking, fermentation occurs in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks using indigenous and neutral yeasts to maintain varietal purity and granite-driven tension. The wine is aged in stainless steel vats on its fine lees with periodic bâtonnage prior to spring bottling.