Wines from South Tyrol and Trentino

Gewürztraminer is named after Tramin. This is not a marketing story – this is etymology. The name of the world's most famous aromatic grape variety bears the village itself, where Hofstätter has been based since 1907. And the Kolbenhof plot is located above Tramin, in the hamlet of Söll, on an eastern slope between 360 and 420 metres above sea level – one of the most historic estates in the entire village. This is where the Bolzano quartz porphyry slab meets the limestone of the Mendelzug. A geological interface that does not exist in this form anywhere else in the South Tyrolean wine-growing region. The soils with a high clay content absorb the warmth of the morning sun – the Kolbenhof is exposed to the east, protected from the midday heat – and slowly release it again. Cool, structured, elegant. This is the opposite of a sweetish mass-produced spiced Traminer: dryness with character.

Troy is no ordinary Chardonnay. Rather, it is the archetype of a Chardonnay, as Wolfgang Klotz, managing director of what is probably the most successful winegrowers' cooperative in South Tyrol, sees it. The grapes come from two selected vineyards in Söll, near Tramin. The climate there is not only Mediterranean, but the vegetation is also characterised by rather cold downdraughts at night. Both factors guarantee optimal development of the plants and fruit. The berries are hand-picked one by one, so it is clear to any wine connoisseur that this is an absolutely prestigious project for the co-operative. It is therefore not surprising that only 3,000 bottles of this grape variety are sold in selected specialist shops and top restaurants.

Troy – in the language of the South Tyrolean ancestors, it means ‘path’ – the path that Cantina Tramin has followed over decades to create one of Italy’s most exceptional Chardonnays. A path of exploration, experimentation and patience. For complex Chardonnays from high-altitude Alpine vineyards are a rarity – and that is precisely where the appeal lies; that is precisely where the challenge begins. At altitudes of 500 to 550 metres, where the Mediterranean heat of the day and cold downdrafts from the mountains clash in stark contrast, 25-year-old Chardonnay vines take root in calcareous gravel and loam over porphyry. South-east-facing slopes, Guyot and pergola training systems, just 38 hectolitres per hectare – each berry is inspected individually during the hand-harvest in October. This is followed by whole-bunch pressing: the grapes are gently pressed together with their stems and stalks, an archaic method that lends structure and depth. Both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation take place in French barriques. The wine rests on its fine lees in the wood for eleven months before being transferred to small stainless-steel tanks, where it spends a further 22 months on the lees – a total of 33 months’ ageing, before four months’ bottle ageing completes the process.

Vorberg – the name gives away its location: on the steep southern slopes of the Tschöggelberg, at altitudes between 450 and 650 metres, a Pinot Blanc thrives that reveals the full potential of this famous South Tyrolean grape variety. The stony, sandy-loam soils, formed from weathered porphyry, with their high quartz content and slightly acidic pH levels, characterise a terroir of extremes: high water permeability, limited nutrient availability and naturally low yields. This microstress elicits unique, terroir-specific polyphenols from the vines. Hand-harvested, gently pressed as whole bunches, followed by natural sedimentation. Slow fermentation takes place at a controlled temperature in large oak casks (70 and 30 hl), followed by partial malolactic fermentation and 12 months’ ageing on the fine lees in traditional wooden casks.

Forty years. That's how long it took Ferrari to create the perfect Blanc de Noirs. Perlé Nero Riserva is a challenge within a challenge: to vinify a white spumante from 100% Pinot Nero without forcing the colour extraction, without manipulating the body. The result? Pure elegance. 2016 was a year for purists. A cool, precise vintage that gave the capricious Pinot Nero the structure that great Riserva Spumanti need. The Lunelli family knew that this vintage would make history. In fact, the 2012 Perlé Nero later became World Champion and the 2016 follows in the same tradition.

The grapes for this top Chardonnay come from clayey limestone soils interspersed with angular white dolomite rock. Intense straw yellow in colour with greenish reflections. The aroma is complex, characterised by exotic fruit, white pepper and a delicate spicy note. Voluminous, enveloping and engaging on the palate, with a powerful structure and a juicy, very harmonious acidity. The final is almost endless, a very great Chardonnay from South Tyrol. SUPERIORE.DE

Pinot Noir, which originates from France, has been cultivated in South Tyrol since 1850. The best sites, low yields, meticulous care and perfectionism in the cellar guarantee a fine, extremely sensual Pinot Noir with considerable ageing potential. Brilliant ruby-garnet colour. Delicious aromas of small berries, violets, cloves, smoke and vanilla. With age, the aroma gains interesting notes of porcini mushrooms and truffles. In the glass, the well-structured Pinot Nero Sanct Valentin shines with finesse, balance, spicy smoothness, fine tannins and a subtly integrated woody note. Pure seduction! SUPERIORE.DE

San Leonardo is the flagship of the winery of the same name and one of the best red wines in Trentino every year. Opulent bouquet with nuances of dark fruit such as blackberry and sour cherry. Delicate notes of spices, leather and tobacco give it a terrific complexity, which is then enhanced on the palate by a harmonious interplay of dark berries and plums, all flanked by clearly contoured tannins. A masterful red with a strong personality that will reach its true greatness after a few more years of bottle ageing and live up to its reputation. SUPERIORE.DE

San Leonardo is the flagship of the winery of the same name and one of the best red wines in northern Italy every year. Opulent bouquet with nuances of dark fruits such as blackberry and sour cherry. Delicate spice, leather and tobacco notes give it a terrific complexity, which is then extended on the palate by a harmonious interplay of dark berries and plums, all flanked by clearly contoured tannins. A masterful red with a strong personality that will reach its true greatness after a few more years of bottle ageing and live up to its reputation. SUPERIORE.DE

The strong ruby-red Pinot Nero Schweizer, which is only produced in the best vintages, is a masterpiece. Its bouquet is large, complex and reminiscent of very ripe small wild berries. These special flavours are also found in the mouth, in combination with ripe, candied dark cherry and delicate floral and red berry notes. Juicy, wide-ranging palate, mouth-filling and with delicate, sveltenuances and an inviting and slightly tannic body which, together with the well-proportioned acidity, gives the wine a long life. SUPERIORE.DE

From deep moraine soil with a high salt and limestone content, Vigna Au first opens with flint and walnut and then beguiles with a complex bouquet of yellow, exotic fruits. Intense, juicy, with just the right amount of acidity, it has a maturation potential of at least 15 years. Just 2,000 bottles of this exceptional Chardonnay are bottled each year. SUPERIORE.DE

From broodingmoraine soil with a high salt and limestone content, Vigna Au first opens with flint and walnut and then beguiles with a complex bouquet of yellow, exotic fruits. Intense, juicy, with just the right amount of acidity, it has a maturation potential of at least 15 years. Just 2,000 bottles of this exceptional Chardonnay are bottled each year. SUPERIORE.DE

The single-varietal Cabernet Sauvignon Toren is the only red cru from Tiefenbrunner's rare Vigna line and comes from a 0.6 ha micro-location with clay and limestone gravel soils: sparkling garnet red with a slight violet tinge. Very intense and appealing nose, with aromas of cassis, blackberry, tobacco and mint. Rich, concise fruit on the palate, mountains of cassis and cranberries, juicy and dense, builds beautifully with ripe tannins, long final. The name suffix "Secundo" was chosen for this vintage as there was unfortunately only a tiny harvest in 2021 and, unlike its predecessors, the wine is characterised by more finesse and elegance than the usual unbridled power and opulence. SUPERIORE.DE

Tor di Lupo, the Wolf's Gate – a name that inspires respect. The flagship of Andriano was one of the very first premium Lagrein in South Tyrol. You could say that it is a primeval rock of South Tyrolean quality winegrowing. Since the early days, the winery has produced this Riserva from grapes from Gries near Bolzano, the classic home of Lagrein.

Adjacent to the Kolbenhof there is an extremely steep vineyard, "Leiten" in South Tyrol, which is more south-facing. It descends into the deep gorge of the Hell Valley and is exposed to a very special microclimate. Thanks to the persistent coolness, the grapes ripen slowly and are harvested by hand only in November. They are then overripe and particularly tasty - ideal for the Gewürztraminer Spätlese Rechtenthaler Schloßleiten.

The roots of this story go deeper than any memory: the vines are over 80 years old and have been bearing silent witness in the warm alluvial soils of Gries for generations. Here, where thirty visionary winegrowers laid the foundations for a legend in 1908, the masterpiece that has long since become the undisputed icon of South Tyrolean winemaking is produced year after year: Taber Lagrein Riserva. It is a wine that epitomises time. Time in the old vines, which at an altitude of just 250 metres transform the extreme temperature fluctuations between hot days and cool nights into pure concentration. Time in the patient manual labour that selects only the finest grapes for this exceptional Riserva. And time for ageing, where after traditional wooden barrel fermentation, a whole year of ageing in French barriques awaits completion.

The St. Michael-Eppan winery began crowning selected varietal wines for the first time with the 2015 vintage. Only just over 3,000 bottles of these top selections are sold worldwide each year. In 2019, the choice again fell on a single-varietal Sauvignon Bianco from the best grapes from selected micro-locations. Gentle pressing with 3 days of skin contact, followed by 12 months of fermentation in tonneau and a further 15 months on the fine lees in stainless steel tanks give it a unique depth and finesse. After a further 9 months in the bottle, it is released for sale.

In the 1930s, Konrad Oberhofer was one of the first in South Tyrol to begin vinifying wine separately from a single, precisely defined parcel. No cuvée, no blending of different vineyards – just this one patch of earth, its vines, its character. An idea that hardly anyone understood at the time and which Paolo Foradori, Oberhofer's son-in-law, later elevated to a philosophy for the entire Hofstätter estate decades later. Pirchschrait – a historic part of the Kolbenhof farm in Söll – has been his monument ever since. What distinguishes the Pirchschrait from all other plots of the Kolbenhof is its tranquillity. Exposed to the east-west to north-east, with a slope angle of 35 per cent, it receives the least amount of sunlight of all the Kolbenhof terraces. While the other sites soak up the Mediterranean light, this one retains a cool precision – and that rare combination of long, even ripening and exceptional ageing potential that only shady sites can offer. The soil is a geological sediment from three eras: glacial dolomite, volcanic porphyry and sandstone all in one.

1908 is the year in which the Gries winery was founded. The history of the winery is closely linked to three rivers, but it is the Talvera that has shaped it the most. Bolzano is not called the city of Talvera for nothing. The old floodplains have given the winegrowers very special soils. These alluvial soils on porphyry provide the ideal basis for Lagrein in particular, but also for Cabernet and Merlot. With its good water permeability and mineral deposits, Bolzano's volcanic porphyry has always been one of the keys to wines full of character.

There are wines that change a grape variety forever. Granato is one of them. The legendary Teroldego, which has been convincing the wine world since 1987 that red wines of international calibre can be produced from Italy's alpine heights. Its name is both programme and poetry: Granato – the pomegranate, the ancient Mediterranean fruit that, like the vine, came to Italy thousands of years ago and whose ruby-coloured seeds remind Elisabetta Foradori of the essence of perfect grapes. In the historic Noval, Regin and Pedot vineyards of Campo Rotaliano, where Teroldego vines over seventy years old sink their roots deep into the Dolomite soil, a wine of monumental proportions is created. Here, on the alluvial sediments of prehistoric times, these ancient vines have grown in complexity decade after decade. Elisabetta's biodynamic philosophy reaches its purest form with these Methuselah vines: Not to intervene, but to guide nature to its peak.

The ruins of a castle tower above the entrance to the village of Terlan. First mentioned in a document in 1206. Much has changed since then – — the languages, the borders, the owners. What has remained are the porphyry rock, the northern foehn wind and the determination to produce wine here that does justice to the village. Nova Domus – new House. Founded in 1893 by 24 winegrowers, with the simple aim of being better together than alone.

Pònkler is the house's top wine and at the same time the essence of Franz Haas' decades of experience with the undemanding Pinot Nero grape. The vines, planted in 2007, grow on soils of weathered porphyry in a single vineyard at an altitude of 750 metres. The selection of French clones, which have proven to be particularly suitable for high altitudes, the high density of vines and the low yields guarantee a very high quality of grapes.