Enfer d’Arvier - the Hell of Arvier - is a miniscule appellation of just 7 hectares shared between Danilo Thomain (1 ha in production, 1 ha recently reclaimed and planted) and the local Cooperative (5 ha). It is a brutally steep, unforgiving amphitheatre of rocky terraces rising from the Dora Baltea river at 680m to an elevation of 800m. Danilo’s sections are planted almost solely to Petit Rouge, some plants reaching 95 years old. Grapes are hand harvested and transported to Danilo’s house where the wine undergoes spontaneous fermentation and ageing in stainless steel deep in his cold rock cellar. Production is a few hundred cases. The wine is fascinating - simultaneously alpine fresh and lusciously fruited, pouring a deep black-red.