Valle d'Aosta, a small mountainous wine-growing region bordering Piedmont, has only 520 hectares for the cultivation of vines. Viticulture in the region dates back to the prehistoric tribe of the Salassi, who occupied the valley areas. The first records of viticulture date back to the 500s when, within monasteries, monks dedicated themselves to this crop, carrying on the wine-growing tradition for more than 100 years. The 1970s saw the advent of social wine cellars, which played an important role as they managed to bring together numerous small producers, facilitating the hard work in the vineyards that was made difficult due to the conformation of the land. Even today, the presence of the social wine cellars represents an important part of wine production in the region, producing superior quality Valdostan wines. Most of the vineyards are red grape vines: the most important variety is petit rouge followed by fumin, prié blanc, prié rouge, cornalin, prëmetta, mayolet, pinot noir, nebbiolo and merlot. While the white wines include petite arvine, chardonnay and white muscat. All Valdostan wines are included in a single Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC), Valle d'Aosta or Vallée d'Aoste, with the appropriate subsections. On xtraWine you can choose from both excellent Valle d'Aosta white wines and numerous Valle d' Aosta red wines, all of which have been awarded important prizes by Bibenda and Gambero Rosso, with major proposals of the best vintage of 2016. All the producers present on xtraWine are among the best known in the production of typical Aosta Valley wines: Ottin, la Crotta di Vegneron and Cave des onze communes.