There are assignments and assignments. Every year, I am especially happy when it’s time to taste the wines of Alto Adige from the far north of Italy. My samples usually arrive when the weather is warm, and I am particularly excited to encounter the bright fruit flavors that come from a cool climate, the distinctive salinity from the area’s unique geology and the high-elevation freshness.
I also love the wide variety offered by the region’s vintners with sparkling wines, an ample choice of white wines (Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Sylvaner, Kerner and more), elegant red wines (Pinot Nero, Schiava, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and more) and precious dessert wines. There is something for everyone.
Alto Adige embraces more than a dozen grapes featured and soils that range from calcareous till with limestone and dolomite, reddish porphyry of ancient volcanic origin and moraine soils of glacier origin. Elevation is also key, with some grapes like the red Schiava planted at the lower elevations and Pinot Bianco at upwards of 500 meters above sea level. The south-facing vines at the base of the Mendola Ridge are seen above.
On my tasting calendar, Alto Adige usually comes after the structured reds of Piedmont and full-bodied expressions from Tuscany. Alto Adige is always a welcome oasis.
This year, I made a quick trip to the region after harvest in mid-October and visited three wineries.
St. Michael-Eppan
St. Michael-Eppan (or Cantina Produttori San Michele Appiano, as you might see the winery called in Italian) was founded in 1907. Like many of the big estates of the region, it is a cooperative winery with 320 members that collectively farm 380 hectares of vines in the cluster of villages of Appiano, Pianizza di Sopra, Monte and Missiano.
From tradition to innovation. The giant, multi-storied St. Michael-Eppan winery has several cellar rooms, including this space with beautifully carved oak botte. The scene on the top right features the co-op founders in their various business deals. The bottom two photos show the grape reception area (left) and an entire floor of stainless steel for fermentation (right).
Co-op president Klaus Pardatscher, winemaker (since 1977) Hans Terzer and CEO Günther Neumair run one of the biggest and most impactful wineries in Northern Italy.
St. Michael-Eppan managing director Günther Neumair and his son, Max
The winery makes the high-end Appius (a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Bianco) in a beautiful bottle with gold stencil graphics. It also offers unique mono-variety wines in its Wine Collection series that showcases the best variety of the vintage. The popular Sanct Valentin features mono-varietal wines, and an exciting late-release program features back vintages with each bottle hand-selected by winemaker Hans Terzer. There is a fun line called Fallwind, named after the diurnal shifts and plunging temperatures that come in the late afternoon as cool air blows down from the mountains. Last is the more accessible Classic line.
Gewürztraminer clusters still on the vines in mid-October
Covering 1,000 hectares of land, the cooperative has Pinot Bianco, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Nero planted at the foot of the Mendola Ridge in the Appiano area from 400 to 700 meters in elevation. Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and Gewürztraminer are planted off the celebrated wine road (la Strada del Vino dell’Alto Adige) near the winery at 400 meters in elevation. Riesling is planted near Lake Monticolo at 550 meters above sea level, and the lower areas from Lake Caldaro to Cortaccia see Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The estate has a small amount of Schiava as well.
The St. Michael-Eppan barrel room with an eerie green light at the far end that marks the entrance to another aging space
Girlan
With sun-drenched vineyards on the low ridge of hills that looks over the city of Bolzano, Girlan is another important Alto Adige cooperative winery. It was founded in 1923 in the village of Cornaiano with just 23 members. Today, on the eve of its 100th birthday, Girlan has 200 members that farm a collective 220 hectares.
A winding path leads through Girlan’s vineyards in Cornaiano.
Girlan’s production pyramid has four levels. The Solisti line is at the top and includes the Alto Adige Vernatsch Aus Gschleier Alten Reben (made with Schiava), Alto Adige Pinot Noir Riserva Trattmann and Alto Adige Pinot Noir Riserva Mazon Vigna Ganger. Two new wines—the Alto Adige Pinot Noir Riserva Curlan and Alto Adige Chardonnay Riserva Curlan—have been added to the Solisti line this year. Both new wines are reviewed here.
A stunning back vintage, the Girlan 1995 Alto Adige Vernatsch Aus Gschleier Von Alten Reben (made with the local Schiava grape), is paired with the alpine flavors of pork and sauerkraut.
Along with the Solisti line are Flora, Vigneti and the Classici lines. The more accessible Flora line offers popular expressions of Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Bianco, Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Nero and a Cabernet-Merlot blend, among other wines.
Wines, barrels and old vines at Girlan
Girlan offers a special focus on the Pinot Nero grape that it cultivates over three cru sites. The variety grows near Girlan on the rolling Monte di Mezzo plateau between San Michele and the Valle dell’Adige. The vines are positioned at 450 to 550 meter above sea level on gravelly mixed soils with moraine deposits and porphyry rock. The co-op also has 15 prized hectares of Pinot Nero in Mazon with limestone soils and south-facing slopes. Mazon produces structured expressions of the grape and is considered one of Italy’s best growing spots for the fragrant variety. The third site for Pinot Nero is in the small village of Pinzon with limestone and clay at 400 to 450 meters in elevation.
Girlan winemaker Gerhard Kofler (left) and sales manager Philipp Nocker (right) under overhead pergola-trained vines
Nals Margreid
Headquartered in the bijoux alpine village of Nalles, the Nals Margreid winery also follows a cooperative model. It counts 138 members, and the average plot farmed by each family is 1.5 hectares.
The village of Nalles is nestled within grapevine-covered hills.
With operations overseen by Gottfried Pollinger, Nals Margreid makes two main lines of wine across an annual production of 1.1 million bottles. The Selection line accounts for about 40% of production, and the Tradition line is 60% of the total.
Selection covers most of the wines reviewed in this report: the Alto Adige Chardonnay Riserva Baron Salvadori, Alto Adige Pinot Bianco Penon, Alto Adige Pinot Bianco Sirmian, Alto Adige Pinot Grigio Punggl, Alto Adige Sauvignon Gennen and Alto Adige Sauvignon Mantele.
The Nals Margreid winery was recently upgraded with state-of-the-art winemaking equipment.
It also makes the Alto Adige Nama, which was Chardonnay with tiny percentages of Pinot Bianco and Sauvignon Blanc until the 2018 vintage but becomes 100% Chardonnay starting in 2019.
A tasting of Nama and a view of the barrel room
Following in the time-honored local farming tradition, grape varieties are often matched to altitudes. For example, Pinot Bianco is always planted above 500 meters in elevation, and Sauvignon Blanc is planted immediately below that line. The area of Nalles enjoys a crazy mix of soils with schist, quartz, calcareous soils and porphyry.
Monica Larner reviews the wines of Italy, Greece and South Africa. Born in Los Angeles, she has lived in Rome on and off since age 11 and has written several books about her adopted home. Her family makes wine in California. She has written about wine for more than 20 years, starting off as the Italy reviewer for Wine Enthusiast in 2003 and moving over to The Wine Advocate in 2013 in the same capacity. She sometimes appears on Italian television and has contributed articles on Italian wine to Italy's largest daily newspaper, Il Corriere della Sera. She has received the top prize for wine writing given by the Comitato Grandi Cru d'Italia at Vinitaly a record four times. Many of the wines that have touched her most come from Italy's vast patrimony of indigenous grapes: Nebbiolo, Sangiovese and Carricante, among others. Her work in Greece takes that love of native grapes to the next level. Her interest in South Africa is sparked by the spirit and passion of that country's independent winemakers.
