Petite Arvine: The Perfect Valais White Wine from Farmy
Petite Arvine wine is sweet and fragrant, with intense fruit undertones. It’s a popular Swiss white and highly sought after due to its rarity.
What is Petite Arvine?
Petite Arvine is a floral white wine mostly cultivated in Valais, Switzerland and Aosta Valley in Italy. It’s so-called because of the size of its berries. Petite Arvine grapes are late-ripening grapes belonging to the white grape variety. They are perfect for the production of sweet and dry wines with intense fragrant and floral, citrus aroma. Both Swiss and Italian grape varieties have distinct grapefruit aromas and bracing acidity. Their exact origin remains a centred debate with both regions claiming the grape as theirs.
Many wine connoisseurs describe Petite Arvine’s AOC Valais appellation as one of the best Swiss wine. Its style range from lusciously sweet to dry fruity undertones, and its AOC appellation can benefit from short-term cellaring. Despite the high quality and surging demand for AOC Valais, Petite Arvine is majorly grown in the Valais region, Swiss. AOC Valais appellations are rich in extract and often found as dry, semi-dry, and sweetly flavoured wines. The grape contains thick-skinned berries, which contribute to the dryness, acidity, and texture.
The History and Cultivation of Petite Arvine
The grape has existed in Valais since 1602. Its cultivation in Italy dates back to over 400 years. Though some researchers suggest the variety to originate from Italy, most people agree that Petite Arvine is primarily native to the Valais region. Opposing enthusiasts argue that it originated in the ancient Roman Empire and arrived in Switzerland through early Italian traders. Genetic experiments do not indicate any relatives of Petite Arvine. Up to today, its origin remains obscure and officially unknown.
Initially, this grape variety was known as Arvine but got the prefix “Petite” to distinguish it from the lesser-quality Grosse Arvine varieties. Commercial-scale production of Grosse Arvine wines halted in early 2000. Consequently, the quality of Petite Arvine wines gained a global reputation. Due to its demanding cultivation, harvesting, and processing, AOC Valais wines are getting more expensive in the market and as demand rises.
What to Know About Petite Arvine White Wines
The grape makes excellent individual wines. The wines have varying characteristics, but generally dry with robust full-body structure. Their acidity ranges from medium to high. Usually, they have distinct aromas characteristic of wisteria, violets, rhubarb, lemon, and grapefruit. Also, they have a hint of mineral and saltiness on the finish. The flavours range from mineral notes to honey, to citrus fruits. While the wine is dry, soft, and full-bodied, it’s also very refreshing.
Most winemakers advise drinking this Swiss wine within a few years of harvest. However, the grape has a high inclination to ageing. Ageing for close to ten years, or more adds more complexity and aroma sophistication. Additionally, dried Petite Arvine grape makes adorable sweet and medium-sweet dry white wines. Dry AOC Valais wines mostly pair well with white meat, cheese, and seafood.
The Swiss grape has demanding viticulture but often loved due to its vigour and excellent productivity. Its cultivation is very finicky and demanding, given that it’s an early budding and late-ripening variety. While on the branches, the berries are incredibly susceptible to diseases and pests. Common diseases and pests include mites, mildew, and devastating botrytis rot disease. The variety performs better on the loose, moraine soils as opposed to its Italian type, which can grow on overly dry soils. The plants require a bright, sunny location with projecting sunlight. Also, they need protection against the wind to guard the grapes against falling. In Switzerland, the berries are harvested by hand towards the end of September.
The winemaking process is less complicated and starts with crushing the whole berries to produce a must. After that, the grape berries get fermented for about 13 days. The resulting wine and sediments are aged using Batonnage and Sur Lies method. Winemaking takes up to six months to enhance the flavour before reaching the market. The wine has excellent ageing capabilities that make its AOC Valais appellation a highly-priced Swiss white wine around the world.
The grape has distinct characteristics. It makes wines with a crisp and refreshing texture. It also makes semi-sweet to lusciously sweet, dry AOC wines. When poured in a glass, the wine has a slight straw yellow colour and a greenish hue. AOC Valais wine has the freshness of sage, delicate citrusy undertone, and an exotic passion fruit aroma. After ageing, the wine leaves a slight touch of saltiness and a piercing tangy mineral flavour on the palate. However, the most distinguishing characteristic is its delicate, natural grapefruit note.
Like most Swiss wines, Petite Arvine AOC is substantially expensive, and nothing much about it can help lower its price. It enjoys a handful of competition from the Italian farmers who produce in small numbers in Aosta valley. Most importantly, the grape makes high-quality white wine, which most people find refreshing and satisfying. It’s one among the few Swiss varieties with high-intensity aromas, full-bodied, medium acidity, and only native to Swiss.
What is the Best Petite Arvine Food Pairing?
Petite Arvine makes the most remarkable and exclusive of all Valaisian white wines. Its dry wines are typically enjoyed best with typical Swiss foods. Seafood such as sushi, oyster, and lobster make a perfect pairing. Also, cheese fondue, salami, and dried white meat make a good pairing as well.
Buying Petite Arvine Online
The remarkable AOC Valais wine and other aged Petite Arvine wines are available at Farmy online shop. The wine provides sheer delight and opulence manifested in rich aromas and fruity undertones. Farmy sources its wine from transparent winemakers who pay extra attention to quality and flavour. Therefore, wine lovers can satisfy their sweet tooth with a multifaceted Swiss pleasure, anytime. Notably, Farmy uses electric cars to deliver customer orders, thus saving the environment from pollution.