Culturonda® Wine - 12 routes to discovering the culture and enjoyment of wine in South Tyrol
South Tyrol is the little giant amid the wine colossus that is Italy. 20 grape varieties are grown in just a small area and the wines they yield are regularly showered with awards. Vernatsch, Lagrein, Gewürztraminer are native South Tyroleans. Wine has been made here since prehistoric times. Today science has long held sway over intuition in winegrowing and winemaking, though the South Tyroleans take a relaxed view. Between mastery and joie de vivre: Culturonda Wine will explore South Tyrol’s wine culture, its traditions, history and stories viewed from 12 perspectives.
Wine & landscape
A diversity of vinescapes
South Tyrol’s vineyards account for just 0.7 percent of Italy’s total vineyard area, though each year the wines receive a disproportionate number of prestigious international awards. 98.8 percent of the winegrowing area is subjected to strict controls imposed by the Italian DOC regulations. A good half of this area is planted with red grape varieties, though wine-lovers the world over have taken the whites to their hearts. The drastic differences between hot days and cool nights accounts for their intense flavours and aromas. 85 percent of the vineyard area straddles the South Tyrolean Wine Route to the south of Bolzano/Bozen. In the Valle Isarco/Eisacktal and Val Venosta/Vinschgau steep vineyards are found at 3,280 ft/1,000 m elevation. more...
On wine safari
Discover, explore, savour: in jolly company driving a whole day from wine estates to wineries and cultural monuments along the South Tyrolean wine route in a minibus. Tasting wines and musing upon them are of course all part of the expedition.
More on the wine safariWine & architecture
Mixing tradition and avant-garde
For centuries merchants from north and south met in Bolzano/Bozen, Italian and German life styles soon permeated Tyrolean society. A consequence of this is the architectural style common to the vineyard area to the south of Bolzano. Most of these manor houses, called ‘Ansitze’, were built between 1550 and 1650 in the ‘Überetsch’ style combining features of German Gothic and Italian renaissance architecture. Today South Tyrolean architects have taken the place of their Lombard predecessors and have developed a language of form which appeals above all through its interaction with historic buildings. Several wineries provide excellent examples. more...
Wein & Architektur
The historical wine villages along the South Tyrolean Wine Route are distinguished by their captivating uniform architectural style and certain singular features.
moreWine & terroir
Good grounds for great wines
A mosaic of soils, climate, site
South Tyrol’s vineyard area is like a mosaic. The vineyard slopes range in elevation from 650 ft/200 m to 3,300 ft/1,000 m and this range encompasses a myriad of soils and microclimates which vary from wine estate to wine estate. The 300 sunny days per year are constant. But this diversity also provides each of the 20 grape varieties with their ideal quality of life, far more than other comparable winegrowing regions. Most varieties grow in hillside sites and on deep gravel and morainal debris in the valley floor. more...
Show me your wines…
The Bolzano/Bozen wine exhibition (Bozner Weinkost) is South Tyrol’s most important wine event. Here the wines are tasted, their quality disputed, which winemakers merit special praise, how wine can be stylishly marketed.
All about the wineVernatsch, Lagrein, Gewürztraminer
Three native South Tyrolean vines
Vernatsch, Lagrein, Gewürztraminer are South Tyrol’s wine ambassadors; all three are mentioned in medieval documents and clearly originated here. Vernatsch was the main variety until recently, Lagrein was made as a rosé wine and a century ago Gewürztraminer had almost died out. Around 15 years ago wine producers began to think about adding value to their old varieties. Yields per vine were reduced, old clones rediscovered, Vernatsch regained its former appeal. Lagrein has become emblematic for fine red wine from South Tyrol, and Gewürztraminer has become the quintessential white. more...
Merano Wine Festival - Gourmet
The Merano International Wine Festival takes place in the sumptuous halls of the art nouveau style Kurhaus. The annual event has become one of the most prestigious of its kind world-wide.
moreWine & vine
South Tyrolean trelising methods
Fine wines need mollycoddling in the vineyard and the winegrower must act with sensitivity. Vines are pruned in January, tied to the trellis wires in March, excessive foliage is removed in early summer, superfluous grape clusters are removed in order to limit yields to beneath those laid down by the regulations for each variety. The white wine harvest begins in early September, while fine red grapes may be picked well into October. A didactic trail has been laid out to enable wine lovers to deepen their knowledge of South Tyrolean wines, grape varieties, sites and trellising methods. more...
Principles and trends
It used to be an idyllic experience to stroll beneath classically-trained pergola vines… No longer. Today’s winegrowers prefer to train their vines on vertical wire frames. In future the classical pergola will be restricted to the Vernatach vine.
Find out moreWine & co-operative wineries
In the winemaker’s laboratory
Conditions in Tyrol’s winegrowing community were dire when the farmers decided to unite and found their own wineries to make and market their wines. The first opened in Andriano/Andrian and Terlano/Terlan in 1893. Today 70 percent of the wine production is now processed by co-operatives, 25 percent is delivered to commercial wineries, while the remainder is made by independent winegrowers who draw their grapes exclusively from their own vineyards. Their estate-bottled wines can be very impressive indeed.
Sparkling delights
Six wineries produce sparkling wines using the traditional method of a second fermentation in the bottle – 200,000 bottles per year. At 3,940 feet/1,200 metres elevation the Arunda-Vivaldi cellar in Meltina/Mölten is Europe’s highest.
Wines from South TyrolWine & history
Wine culture in collections
Of Rhaetians, Romans and wine casks
South Tyrol was once the Roman province of Rhaetia. When they invaded the region in 15 BC the Romans were amazed to find a thriving wine culture here and that Rhaetian farmers stored and transported their wine in wooden casks. 2,500 year-old casks were discovered at Bressanone/Brixen in 2002 – the oldest in the history of wine. Tyrolean wine became a commercial commodity in the Middle Ages; time and again rulers exhorted wine producers to concentrate on quality. Advances in technology in the 20th century brought about a revolution in standards.
Among the world’s oldest grape vines
The Versoaln vine at Katzenzungen Castle at Prissiano/Prissian is one of the world’s oldest and most expansive. It still yields some 500 bottles of fruity white wine per year – a true rarity. Guided tours from April to October.
Katzenzungen CastleWine, monasteries & convents
South Tyrol’s monastery wines
The first masters of wine in South Tyrol
Around the year 1300 some 40 religious establishments in southern Germany carted wine from southern Tyrol north. Mention is often made of donations: obviously the Tyroleans saw this as a way to buy their way out of purgatory. The demand for communion and table wine was large. According to medieval chronicles monks drank a litre per day. The prince bishops of Bressanone/Brixen and Trento also invested in winegrowing and well-read monks became expert winemakers. Today monasteries still produce some of the region’s finest wines. more...
Awesome vineyard site
The convent of Sabiona/Säben (an ancient bishop’s residence) towers over the town of Chiusa/Klausen like a castle surrounded by vineyards. The nuns support themselves partly from the proceeds of winegrowing.
The convent of Sabiona/SäbenWine & art
Inspiration and commissions
It began in antiquity and featured strongly in the Bible: wine is steeped in culture and enjoys a cult status. Wine parables have inspired countless artists through the centuries. From the 12th century the image of ‘Christ in the wine press’ appeared in Tyrol in panel paintings. Drinking vessels and vineyard tools were embellished with carvings. Centuries-old frescoes and artistically carved casks decorated for festive occasions embellish South Tyrolean wine cellars. Modern art is not content with pretty pictures but tries to interpret processes in winegrowing.
Women wear wine
Sylvia Pichler, a designer from Bolzano/Bozen created a sensuous wine bag for wein.kaltern: it doubles as a package for fine wines and a handbag for exceptional women.
Check out the bag here…Wine & fine dining
Indulgence has its seasons
A wine list to partner the Alpine- Mediterranean cuisine
South Tyrol’s Alpine tradition meets the Mediterranean joie de vivre on restaurant menus. Fine dining here invariably includes a good glass of wine. A light red goes best with the substantial ‘Knödel’, while fine dining is strongly characterised by Italian-Mediterranean influences and cries out for top quality South Tyrolean wines. In certain seasons wine and food are even more closely interdependent. Spring is the asparagus season, autumn is the time for Törggelen, a South Tyrolean tradition which originated in the Isarco/Eisack Valley.
The South Tyrol Gourmet Festival
South Tyrol celebrates quality: The South Tyrol Gourmet Festival in Bolzano/Bozen’s historical centre focusing on local culinary delights with a guarantee of origin is a must for foodies. An attractive supporting programme will supply the delectable ambience.
moreWine with all the senses
A holistic South Tyrolean experience
Wine connoisseurs turn wine drinking into an extravagant ritual. First of all the glass is held up to the light, its contents swirled then sniffed, rolled over the palate, ‘chewed’ and the aftertaste savoured after swallowing. Only then does the expert feel qualified to pass judgement. Tasting wine involves all the senses, from hearing to touch, for example on opening a bottle and touching the glass to test the temperature. It seems a mere love of wine is not always enough to really understand it.
A good feeling
Merano/Meran‘s spa guests have long known about the curative properties of the Merano grape cure. The Merano Thermal Baths complex has revived this tradition and offers grape-based spa treatments.
It’s also a beauty treatment…Wine & legend
Wine places steeped in legend
Of the Nörggelen elves and secret cellars
By the Middle Ages wine had become an important commodity. A litre of wine cost as much as a labourer earned in a day. No wonder winegrowers and cellar masters guarded their wine jealously, for thirsty thieves lurked all around. According to legend, at harvest time the ‘Wein-Nörggelen’ were at work, elves who pilfered the new wine. Other stories recount the wish for wine which would never run out; time and again secret cellars were discovered. Wine adulterators fared badly, for they were revealed and punished by the Nörggelen. more...
South Tyrol’s most memorable wine legends
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