Prié Blanc

Also known as Blanc de Morgex, Blanc de Valdigne.

Prié Blanc is the native white grape of the upper Aosta Valley, grown around Morgex and La Salle at the foot of Mont Blanc, where it makes the Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle wines. Its vineyards, at roughly 900 to 1200 metres, are among the highest in Europe, and — because the sandy Alpine soils resisted phylloxera — the vines are traditionally ungrafted and grown on their own roots, trained on low pergolas against the cold.

It gives light, delicate, high-acid dry whites with alpine-herb, citrus and white-flower aromas and a crisp, mineral, mountain freshness; it is also made into fine sparkling wine and a rare ice wine. It is one of Italy's most distinctive high-mountain white grapes.