Hofstätter

Vernatsch (Schiava) is the oldest everyday red wine in South Tyrol. For centuries, it was the most widely planted grape variety in the region – the wine of mountain farms, snacks and long evenings after the harvest. Light, fruity and easy to drink. Not a wine that builds itself up – one that invites you in. Hofstätter presses it under the name of Kolbenhof, one of their traditional vineyards near Tramin. The vineyard gives the Vernatsch the care that has characterised the house since 1907: a clear varietal profile, no distractions.

Kretzer – this is what the rosé from Lagrein has been called in South Tyrol for centuries. The name sounds more determined than Rosato, and it is: Lagrein is one of the most independent grape varieties in the country, almost exclusively at home in South Tyrol, with an aroma that no other rosé grape displays in the same way. Wild berries, violets, a hint of dark spice – and the freshness that comes from vinification as a rosé. Martin Foradori aptly describes this wine as a character type between two worlds: "the freshness and fragrance of a white wine, the fruity juiciness and delicate spiciness of a red that can be drunk young".

Pinot Grigio is Italy's best-selling white wine variety – and at the same time one of the most misunderstood. What becomes a pale all-purpose weapon on an industrial scale shows a completely different face in South Tyrol. The grapes for Hofstätter's version come from Mazzon and Egna in the Adige Valley, where the soils are skeleton-rich and well-drained and the vine builds up its aromas with a concentration that gives the wine real substance.

Tramin, the heart of South Tyrolean viticulture – and Hofstätter has been its most reliable interpreter for generations. "De Vite" is Martin Foradori-Hofstätter's entry into the world of white wines: a cuvée of Sauvignon, Pinot Blanc and Müller-Thurgau, vinified in steel, focussed on freshness and drinkability. Light yellow in colour with greenish reflections, lively in the glass. The nose reveals green apples, a hint of lemongrass and delicate elderflower – clear, inviting, alpine. Precise acidity on the palate, good balance, a light, invigorating finish. A direct and beautiful wine for the moment, without detours, without any claim to great complexity, but with the typical Hofstätter sense of care even in simplicity. SUPERIORE.DE

Martin Foradori-Hofstätter sees his Chardonnay as an expression of the South Tyrolean lowlands: clear, precise, without detours via the wood. The grapes come from the Mazon and Egna vineyards, where marl soils and the typical diurnal variation between alpine night and warm afternoon give the Chardonnay a natural freshness that no cellar master could force. Vinified at controlled temperatures, matured exclusively in steel on the fine lees until the point of optimum ripeness.

In 1907, Josef Hofstätter founded his winery in the heart of Tramin – in an imposing 16th-century building that remains the centrepiece of the estate to this day. Ever since, the name Hofstätter has stood for the very best that South Tyrol has to offer: white wines characterised by distinct varietal typicity, elegant freshness and understated minerality. The Pinot Bianco comes from Cortaccia, one of the finest vineyards along the South Tyrolean Wine Route, on light marl soils that give the grape variety precisely that delicate structure and aromatic purity for which Hofstätter is renowned. Gentle pressing, ageing on the fine lees in stainless steel.

The 2023 vintage brought a balanced climate with warm days and cool nights, which harmoniously combined freshness and ripeness. Martin Foradori's Merlot is characterised by cool noblesse and a clear structure. Dark berries, fine herbs and a hint of graphite characterise the bouquet. The ageing partly in large wooden barrels and partly in cement eggs gives the wine depth without excess weight. The palate is juicy, precise and supported by silky tannins - a South Tyrolean Merlot of quiet sovereignty and terroir-related elegance. SUPERIORE.DE

Lagrein is the autochthonous grape par excellence of South Tyrol. Nowhere else in the world does this grape variety grow in significant quantities – it belongs to this region as completely as hardly any other variety belongs to a place. Its strengths: an intense, bright ruby colour, an immediately recognisable aroma of wild berries and violets, a fine spiciness and a freshness that still has something to say to the palate after the last sip. Hofstätter vinifies Lagrein in a style that has characterised the house since 1907: precise, balanced, with a genuine varietal profile instead of elaborate cellar technology.

Sauvignon is a grape variety that does not hide its character. Gooseberry, elderflower, nettle, flint – if you recognise these attributes, you don't have to guess for long. Hofstätter cultivates Sauvignon in cooler mountain vineyards, which appear under the designation Vigneti delle Dolomiti – a reference to a terroir that has more altitude and more alpine freshness than the vineyards along the South Tyrolean Wine Road. The result is a Sauvignon with clear varietal typicity and the unmistakable Hofstätter style: not an obtrusive wine, but one that carries its flavour with elegance.

The name says it all: Meczan is the local dialect form of Mazzon – the high plateau to the east of the Adige Valley, at an altitude of 350 to 460 metres, with north-facing slopes and soils of limestone gravel and clay. What Paolo Foradori began to prove in the 1960s and Martin Foradori Hofstätter continues to develop today is now undisputed: Mazzon is Italy's most important location for Pinot Nero. The Meczan is the entry into this world. Some of the grapes are fermented without destemming to give the Pinot more structure and aromatic depth. Ten days on the skins, vinified exclusively in stainless steel.

Termeno gave the Gewürztraminer its name. Whether the grape variety actually originates from this village in southern South Tyrol is a matter of scientific debate. What is not in dispute, however, is that nowhere else in the world does the Gewürztraminer feel quite so at home as on the slopes around Termeno. Hofstätter, one of the historic estates of the Unterland region, has been rooted here for generations. Joseph is at the heart of this conviction. Fermentation takes place after just a few hours' skin contact, exclusively in steel at a maximum of 16 to 20°C – no oak to overpower the aromatics. The result is intended to be the Gewürztraminer in its purest form: precise and well-defined. The soils around Termeno are marly, light, well-aerated and warm up quickly – a terroir that promotes ripening whilst preserving the aromatics.

Kirchegg – the corner by the church. Field names like this are as old in South Tyrol as the vineyards themselves: precise descriptions of the land before there were maps, before there were appellations, before anyone had the idea of marketing vineyards. This patch of earth near Tramin – in the heart of the South Tyrolean Wine Route – is one of the warmest sites in the Adige Valley: naturally good for grape varieties that need warmth, structure and ripeness. 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon on heavy clay soils: Merlot brings the warm, dark fruit and the fullness, Cabernet the structure, the tannic persistence and the slightly vegetal tone that gives the wine its unmistakable character. After the harvest, a short maceration followed by 10 days of fermentation with the skins permanently submerged, with a deliberate increase in temperature towards the end for maximum extraction of colour and aromas. International in the origin of the grape varieties – pure South Tyrol in the result.

At the foot of the hills below Söll, the hamlet of Tramin, lies the Steinraffler – a single, precisely defined vineyard that gives the Lagrein exactly what it needs: sandy, gravelly moraine soils with limestone deposits and volcanic deposits. Dry, airy, heat-conducting. Ideal for a grape variety that requires concentration. The speciality of the microclimate: the exchange between the cool mountain winds from the Alps and the warm Ora, the wind from Lake Garda, which blows up from the south every day. This tension – coolness and warmth in the rhythm of the day – is the invisible winemaker of the Steinraffler. The Vigna label, which Hofstätter was the first house in Alto Adige to put on a label, stands for a single parcel, a single voice. The Steinraffler is the highest expression of Lagrein in the portfolio. 15 months in small oak barriques, then 7 months in large barrels – the wood provides structure and depth without overpowering the typical varietal fruit. Then at least twelve months in the bottle before the wine leaves the winery.

Michei di Michei – this is the Ladin way of saying: the Michei of Michei. The son of the father, named after the one who came before him. This is an old practice in Trentino and Ladin in the Dolomites – the name of the Maso bears the history of the family that cultivated it, long before anyone had the idea of making a single-vineyard wine from its grapes. Maso Michei is located in a quiet, remote corner of southern Trentino, close to the border with Veneto, above the historic trading town of Ala, in the heart of the Piccole Dolomiti. 790 to 850 metres above sea level. Southern exposure, loose limestone dolomite-pebble soils, crystal-clear mountain air. The vines grow slowly at this altitude. Winter comes earlier, summer is shorter, the ripening period extends well into autumn. What remains is concentration without heat, depth without heaviness.

Maso Michei is located high up in a secluded mountain world in southern Trentino. There, the vines thrive at an altitude of 790 to 850 metres on a sun-drenched south-facing slope in unspoilt nature. In this remarkable location for viticulture, the vines grow slowly and the grapes ripen late. With the acquisition of the 13-hectare Maso Michei vineyard in the Valle dei Ronchi above Ala, Martin Foradori Hofstätter has returned to the roots of his ancestors in Trentino.

Tramin gave Gewürztraminer its name – and the world has since associated it with lush rose flavours, lychee and a body that likes to be heavy. Martin Foradori-Hofstätter thinks differently. With Vigna Castel Rechtenthal, he shows what this variety can do when the location is right and the winemaker does not stand in its way. The vineyard plot is located on a gravelly hill above Rechtenthal Castle, at the foot of Monte Roen – the highest peak in Tramin at 2,116 metres. The soil is an alluvial cone of dolomite gravel: permeable, cool and mineralised. The Höllentalbach stream intensifies the already fresh downdraughts that blow down from the mountain and significantly lower the temperatures at night. No other Gewürztraminer Tramin grows under such conditions.

Oberkerschbaum – the upper cherry orchard. The name encapsulates the everyday nature of mountain life: a farmstead named after the trees that lined its perimeter. What sets this plot apart from the ordinary, however, is its location. The vineyard is situated in Pochi di Salorno, in the Buchholz UGA, on the southernmost border of South Tyrol – where the province meets Trentino. At an altitude of 770 to 800 metres, facing south-west, on purely volcanic porphyry without any limestone content. No other Vigna vineyard belonging to the estate lies at such a high altitude; none has such consistently volcanic geology. The Sauvignon Bianco thrives here under extreme yet precise conditions: an exceptional amount of sunshine, amplified by the altitude; cool nights that slow down ripening and preserve freshness; and soil that transfers the volcano's minerality directly into the grapes. The "Vigna" classification, first introduced for Alto Adige by Paolo Foradori, denotes a plot that is in a class of its own. The "Riserva" designation of the 2023 vintage confirms the extended ageing process.

It was Paolo Foradori who made Mazon what it is today. He married into the Hofstätter family in 1959 and dedicated his life to a single project: proving that the high plateau east of the Adige Valley is the most important Pinot Noir site in Italy. The experts have proved him right. Mazon, at 350 to 460 metres, exposed on the north side, on the cooler east side of the South Tyrolean Adige Valley – with limestone gravel and clay soils, which are mineralised by the rock formations of the Werfen Formation – gives the Pinot Nero a depth, concentration and complexity that cannot be found anywhere else in this form. The Riserva is the expression of the entire plateau: the wine that Foradori in Mazon always had in mind. 100% hand-picked, completely destemmed harvest, fermentation in concrete vats with remontage. Then maturation in barriques, then again in concrete – a sequence that treats structure and freshness equally – and finally two years of bottle ageing before sale.

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.