Institut Agricole Regional Vallee d'Aoste Fumin 2018 SF Chronicle Driven by cinnamon

Driven by cinnamon

and complex in a way that NV Champagne rarely is: orchard fruit and brioche from the reserve

For this vintage

with around 20-25% new oak

Grapes are pressed on a traditional wooden press

Institut Agricole Regional Vallee d'Aoste Fumin 2018 SF Chronicle Driven by cinnamonFumin is the great red grape of the Valle d'Aosta, and almost nobody outside the valley has heard of it. It turns up in the written record as far back as 1785, making it one of the oldest documented varieties in this corner of the Alps, and the Institut Agricole Regional the valley's agricultural college, whose Joseph Vaudan winery doubles as a teaching cellar makes one of the reference bottlings. Think of it as a mountain cousin to Nebbiolo: