This week’s Monday Musings is more about what is meant by alpine wines or mountain wines. I wrote about these wines in May but the topic keeps coming up for me so I am writing about it again.

What characteristics do they have and what defines them? While there may be no specific definition, there are certain aspects that are important to consider: Please share your thoughts and views on this topic.

Elevation: There is no specific elevation that means that wines are alpine or mountain wines but generally speaking, they grow at 500 meters (1640 feet above sea level) and above.

Heroic Viticulture: The vineyards tend to be on very steep slopes and to be difficult to work. They are always or almost always hand harvested. The soils tend to be either sedimentary rock, volcanic, or limestone mixes for the most part.

Climate: While often mountainous viticulture takes place under continental climes there can also be warmer areas that are just at elevation but that is not the norm. There can also be an area at elevation that has a particular microclimate where it is quite warm during the day but cooler at night. In fact, many alpine wines are able to achieve ripeness and balance because of larger diurnal temperature swings.

Flavor profile: Generally the wines grown at elevation have a lot of acidity, at times ripe fruit but it depends on the ability of the wines to ripen at elevation. They also tend to be straight-forward with clean and frank aromas. I have found that they have heightened aromatics too. Many use descriptors such as showing minerality to describe these wines.

Aging: Some wines that grow at elevations can be aged for years while others are made and ready to drink within a short time frame. Like in vineyards at lower elevation, this depends on the aging regime, grape variety, and style of wine being made.

Mono-varietals versus blends: While a number of high elevation vineyards tend to be dedicated to one specific grape variety which then is made into a mono-varietal wine, there are other areas that do make blends even at elevation.

Even if the definition is loosely outlined, one thing they have in common is a singleness of flavor and a straight-forward frank, crisp, elegance. Sometimes when I try a wine that gives me an extra-added something, I ask if the grapes are grown at elevation. That happened to me this spring with a Nero d’Avola from Siciliy.