Being a vigneron in the Hautes-Alpes, a tiny wine region in the shadow of some of France’s highest peaks, is no easy feat: in 2024, Mickaël Olivon had to contend with a damaging late frost, then right as harvest approached, a ravenous flock of birds descended upon his garden-sized vineyards and further pecked away at his yield. Mickaël’s story is an unusual one—an avid mountain sports enthusiast, he set up shop high in the southern Alps with the ambition to craft fine wines, naming his cuvées after the area’s most prominent summits, each of which he has personally climbed. Grand Pic is a blend of Jacquère, Altesse, Marsanne, and Müller Thurgau grown organically at 3,000 feet elevation and raised in old barrels in his chilly cellar. Crystalline as glacial meltwater and deep as an icy crevasse, it delivers all that we could dream of in an Alpine wine, and then some.

Maurizio Fiorano’s slender, athletic build and cat-like features suggest he would have the agility to nimbly navigate small spaces such as the narrow terraces on which his Petite Arvine vines grow. Perched on tall cliffs overlooking the magnificent Aosta Valley, these vineyards are not for the faint of heart. But Maurizio, who takes to mountaineering in his free time, makes heroic viticulture look completely mundane. Not far from the towering summit of Mont Blanc, Petite Arvine yields a white wine that announces itself with a lovely floral perfume before zipping across the palate, leaving mouthwatering impressions of salt and stone in its wake. It has the bracing acidity to cut through Valle d’Aosta’s notoriously rich cuisine—pretty much every dish comes topped with a decadent layer of melted Fontina—but it also makes for an excellent pairing with ceviche.