Caves Coopératives de Donnas

In 1971 Donnas wine was granted the first DOC in the Aosta Valley. That same year, winegrowers from the village founded a cooperative to safeguard the quality of their wine. It is called Caves Coopératives de Donnas.

The cooperative

The winery stands in the very area where the grapes are grown. It has modern winemaking equipment and large oak casks for ageing. It can store around 160,000 litres of wine.

The members take care of everything, from the harvest to the sale. The cooperative produces an average of 100,000 bottles a year.

Vines on stone walls

Vines have been grown in Donnas for a very long time, but the land is difficult. The slopes are steep. To plant them, terraces were built, held up by high walls.

The plots are small and scattered. Everything is done by hand, all year round. In winter, while the wine ages in the cellar, the growers repair the vine supports and prune the vines.

Low-toxicity products are used against the usual diseases. When necessary, some of the bunches are removed so that the others ripen better.

The harvest calendar

The harvest begins in September with pinot gris. The other grapes are picked in October. The last harvest takes place in mid-November: grapes that have already dried a little on the vine are picked then, for a special wine.

The vineyard ecomuseum

Donnas also has a small museum devoted to the vine. It occupies the cellars of the ‘Anna Caterina Selve’ nursery school, built in 1877. These cellars have fine brick vaults. They were first used as a storehouse, then as the cooperative winery from 1971 to 1976. Restored in 2003, they have housed the museum ever since.

It displays objects and tools from traditional winegrowing. Many are simple and ingenious, and some are still used today in the vineyards of Donnas.

The museum also tells the history of the vineyards. In the Aosta Valley, the vine probably dates back to pre-Roman times. Donnas enjoys a favourable climate. The earliest documents mentioning vines in Donnas date from 1200.