Nature does not recognise frontiers. The Alps stretch more than 1,200 kilometres across the heart of Europe, straddling the prime latitudinal band for fine wine production and sitting at the crossroads of France, Germany, Italy and Austria. Within this mountain landscape — shaped by glaciers, ancient rock and millennia of human cultivation — a family of wines has evolved that shares geology, climate, indigenous grape heritage and cultural connectivity across national and linguistic boundaries. These wines are all too simplistically pigeonholed as French, Swiss or Italian. The wider Alpine category is seldom acknowledged. No institution currently exists to present them as a single wine category. Alpina Vina exists to fill that void.
The Regions
Nine regions across the Alpine arc — from Savoie in the west to Alto Adige / Südtirol in the east — each defined by altitude, indigenous grape heritage and heroic viticulture on some of the steepest and most dramatic vineyard slopes in Europe.
The Grapes
The Alpine arc is one of Europe's most extraordinary reservoirs of indigenous grape varieties found in meaningful cultivation nowhere else on earth, documented here in the most comprehensive cross-border Alpine grape glossary available.
The Producers
The men and women who make Alpine wine are custodians of a living heritage — guardians of varieties, landscapes and traditions that represent some of the most compelling and under-discovered expressions of mountain terroir in the world.
Alpine wine regions map
Important Note Display may vary by screen. On the general map, boundaries follow AOC/DOC appellations. At the regional level, we show geographical zones (rather than appellations) for clarity. Finally, vines in sub-regions correspond to cadastral data, irrespective of actual planting.
Alpine wines - Documentary film
The Alpina Vina team has produced some documentary films which take you into the vineyards and cellars of the Alpine wine arc.
View this short introductory trailer free of charge.
Films of two of the regions are currently available; more films covering other regions of the Alpine arc are in production.
Full 30' versions of the films are available to rent or buy, available on Vimeo OTT — HP's Documentaries (US$4.99 for 7-day rental)