🌿 High-altitude vineyards

High-altitude vineyards are vineyards planted high in the mountains, where days are warm and nights cool. High-altitude vineyards grow far above sea level, usually in mountains. Days there are warm, but nights are clearly cool. This swing in temperature is the main feature.

Cool nights slow ripening and help berries keep their acidity. The wine turns out fresh and bright rather than heavy. By day the mountain sun is strong: grape skins are thicker, with more colour and tannin. There are difficulties too: spring frosts happen, slopes are steep, and most work is done by hand.

In the southern Alps vines are often trained on a pergola, a high trellis under which air moves well through the leaves. Altitude therefore changes the terroir: the same variety in a valley and on a mountain gives different wines. That is why such places are valued for freshness and aroma, and why high-altitude sites are treated as a distinct kind of viticulture.