Why is Hell supposed to be hot? Was it Dante’s idea? Nope, the language certainly predates him. But don't worry, We're not doing a dive deep into religion, history and language today, the important thing... Read More

Why is Hell supposed to be hot? Was it Dante’s idea? Nope, the language certainly predates him. But don't worry, We're not doing a dive deep into religion, history and language today, the important thing to know is that Hell, or Inferno or Enfer is synonymous with heat. The words are basically interchangeable.

So it’s not surprising that places that get a surprising amount of sun in Europe often carry some version of Hell in their names. Also, these same places happen to be good places to get wine grapes perfectly ripe. The Enfer d'Arvier DOC in Italy’s Valle d’Aoste is one of the best examples of Hell making some truly special wine.

The Enfer is a steep, amphitheatre shaped slope inside a valley high in the Italian Alps, near the borders of France and Switzerland. The shape of the slope allows for sunshine all day long, and increases temperatures in an otherwise very cold, high altitude growing site. This results in deep, well structured and savory Alpine wine.

It’s also a tiny DOC, just 5 hectares of vines are planted, almost entirely to a variety called Petit Rouge. Danilo Thomain and his family own 1 of those hectares, and as far as we know they are the only ones who export to the U.S. Indeed, because of his relationship with Neal Rosenthal, 2/3rds of their production comes here . . . a whopping 1800 bottles!