Vinařství v jižním Tyrolsku

Winegrowing in Appiano has no fewer than two thousand years of tradition. Two thousand years in which winegrowers of all eras have made use of the ideal location, the mild climate, and the fertile soils on the ridge near the Passo Mendola for growing grapes and making wine from them.

It is not surprising that such a lengthy tradition is anchored in the winegrowing operations and winegrower families. And at the Weinberghof, the Romen family does not constitute an exception. It is in the district of Appiano-Monte in which history and tradition become especially tangible, as there is a density here of manors, castles, and fortresses that knows no equal.

The Weinberghof in its typical Oltradige style joins in this tradition. The view from the terrace looks out on the surrounding countryside and the numerous vineyards – including those of the Romen family. “We make use of the ideal location here with numerous hours of sunshine that is especially beneficial to the maturing of the grapes,” explains Alois Romen. “And during the night, katabatic winds provide cooler temperatures. These substantial temperature differentials between day and night are responsible for the prominent aroma of our wines.”
But wine enthusiasts can convince themselves of this, and specifically right at the Weinberghof. Their own wines can be tasted here properly – in the winery which, with its old stone arches, is reminiscent of olden days. As one learns, tradition extends into the details.

Three generations of vintners – With a passion for wine-making

We are down to earth, but also innovative. We have great respect for Nature, and cultivate grapes only at the appropriate locations. That describes, in a nutshell, the philosophy of the Niklas winery. We view our family heritage as a responsibility to shape and maintain a South Tyrolean wine-growing estate like no other. It embodies the know-how and motivation of three generations of vintners, and is a place where outstanding South Tyrolean red wines typical for their location are created. In the meantime, Dieter Sölva guides the estate’s continued development. Dieter learned the business from his father, Josef, the founder of the Niklas winery, whom he succeeded. Dieter’s son Michael is already adding his unique handwriting to the family business – whose wines are now being marketed throughout the world.

A Lagrein from Roverè della Luna, which was supposed to be better than those of the surrounding villages, was mentioned by the travel writer Max Sittich von Wolkenstein as early as the seventeenth century. So the bar for the Cantina Sociale Roverè della Luna, the northernmost in Trentino, was therefore set high. For the 270 members of today, that is more of a motivation than a burden.

Roverè della Luna is situated just south of the Chiusa di Salorno cleft on a limestone cone. Even though the Adige Valley has been predestined for winegrowing, the conditions here are rather rough. “Gravel and limestone don’t hold water very well,” says Carlo Alberto Gasperi, winemaker at the Cantina Roverè della Luna, “so the vines only grow here with difficulty.” But what is a challenge for grapevines and winegrowers is for him a stroke of luck: “Because of the slow growth, an especially fruity wine comes into existence,” the winemaker says.

The Cantina Sociale Roverè della Luna was already founded as early as 1919, at that time with 24 winegrowers with great foresight. Today, the cooperative has 270 members who tend no fewer than 420 hectares of grape growing areas and, aside from the aforementioned literarily immortalized Roverè della Luna Lagrein, they also grow Teroldego, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir, Schiava, Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay, and Müller Thurgau.

In all of the still and sparkling wines from the Cantina Roverè della Luna, the terroir and its properties can be tasted, having been finished in a modern, rational winery. With a view forward, but also back to the roots of the cooperative. As is fitting for wines for which a literary monument was already put up four hundred years ago.

Working in harmony with nature and not against it is the credo to which Alois Lageder has dedicated himself as one of the first with his estate winery in Magré. The expression of that is the strictly biodynamic method of cultivation in the family’s own 55 hectares of vineyards.

Recognizing the estate as a self-contained microcosm with a diversity of plants and animals: that is what biodynamics professes, according to which the Lageder Estate Winery is oriented: “As an estate winery, we have set ourselves the goal of maintaining and expanding this complex ecosystem,” explains Lageder.

And a second goal is pursued in Magré: the palette of grape varieties of the Lageder Estate Winery ought to reflect the diversity in Alto Adige – as should the wines that are made from them. They are subdivided into classic grape varieties, compositions, and masterpieces. With the classic varieties, the product line ranges from Gewürztraminer to Lagrein to Schiava, while the components from the vineyard and the winery for the compositions are newly combined with each other each year. In that way, no vintage is similar to another.

The flagship of the Lageder Estate Winery is the masterpieces. “With these, we strive to perfect all of the aspects of winemaking,” says Lageder. Nothing less than perfection is therefore the goal. But within that context, Alois Lageder as both a lover and patron of the arts (the Löwengang Manor as the headquarters of the estate winery is an eloquent sign of this passion) is well aware that perfection is unattainable. But one can always try to get as close to it as possible.

The Widum Baumann winegrowing estate in Avigna, high above Bolzano, is a bit of a pocket-sized version of the wine country Alto Adige: located at a high altitude, characterized by the mountains, run in a sustainable manner, with a diverse range of varieties on offer and a long history. That history begins in the mid-13th century when the Widum Baumann farm in Avigna was first mentioned in a document. Back then, this used to be the seat of the administrator of ecclesiastical property; the farm itself was a typical mountain farm, however. This would not change until the Widmann family took over. Thomas Widmann, an agricultural economics professional, recognized the potential of the farm and began experimenting with apple farming. In 2012, he added winegrowing to the mix, which was only made possible by climate change considering the altitude of 1,048 meters above sea level. “We began by cultivating eleven different varieties and maturing them in different ways in order to understand which variety and method would yield the best results,” recalls Thomas Widmann. It eventually came down to seven remaining varieties, which are matured as a mixed set (gemischter Satz) according to ancient tradition. “They are harvested together and fermented in wooden tubs or amphoras,” says Widmann. Tradition also rules how cultivation is organized at the Widum Baumann winegrowing estate, dictated by nature, the weather, plants, the moon, and the seasons. The production follows strict biodynamic rules: “We realized something very simple very early on,” says Thomas Widmann. “Keeping chemical treatment to an absolute minimum will yield the most authentic products.”

The grapevines that are tended at the Strasserhof Estate Winery in Varna are up to 45 years old. From the grapes of these vines, Hannes Baumgartner, winegrower at the Strasserhof and, at the same time, president of the Independent Winegrowers association, makes youthful-fresh wines. White wines, of course, since we are in the Valle Isarco after all.

The strictly white assortment of the Strasserhof Estate Winery is a thankfully broad one. It ranges from Müller Thurgau and Grüner Veltliner to Sylvaner, Riesling, and Gewürztraminer all the way to Zweigelt. And of course includes Kerner, upon which Baumgartner has placed particular focus. “Our characteristic Valle Isarco wines can without a doubt be described with three attributes: a strong mineral quality, great juiciness, and pleasant, youthful freshness,” Baumgartner says.

Since 2003, he has been producing wine at the Strasserhof, an operation whose history in any case dates back much further. “The farmhouse was already built in the eleventh century,” the winegrower explains. Today, the estate winery encompasses five hectares of vineyards that are distributed over sunny locations with a southwestern exposure at elevations from 650 to 700 meters. “The lightly sandy gravel soils contribute to the elegant, fruity freshness of our wines,” says Baumgartner with conviction.
Thus around 45,000 bottles of white wine are produced each year, for which the chairman of the Independent Winegrowers in Alto Adige has developed a broad market. So today, wines from the Strasserhof are drunk not only in Italy, Austria, and Germany, but also in the Netherlands, Japan, and the USA.

Strong vineyards and wines in which the terroir identity can be tasted: that is what distinguishes the Malojer Gummerhof Winery. It lies in the rural northern part of Bolzano and can look back on a long history. For five generations, the focus has consistently been on quality and identity.

When Bolzano was still small and manageable, the Gummerhof was located right in the middle of a landscape of vineyards, fields, and meadows. That was in 1480, when the farm was mentioned for the first time in a document. Precisely four hundred years later, Joseph Trafojer purchased the winegrowing farmhouse and step by step converted it into a winery and distillery. When his granddaughter, who had married into the Malojer family, took over the operation in the late 1940s, the name of the operating family may have changed, but the recipe for success stayed the same.

This was built upon two pillars. One of them is the rigorous policy of quality that has been followed for decades, while the other is the terroir identity that it should be possible to taste in Gummerhof wines. The result is a broad palette of wines with strong character: Cabernet, Merlot, Lagrein, Pinot Noir, Schiava, Müller Thurgau, Sylvaner, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Blanc.

Depending upon the variety, the wines are aged in stainless steel tanks, in small oak casks, or in the old large oak barrels that are handed down from generation to generation. Each of them imparts a character to the wines that is unmistakable – as it should be. That is also what Urban Malojer, winemaker of the family winery, says. “Our goal is to constantly be improving our wines and to make them more and more typical.”

A lovely manor, a wine history going back more than seven hundred years, and the history of the settlement dating back a full two thousand years: all of that may be found at the Kornellhof in Settequerce, which has been run by Florian Brigl since 1996. For nearly twenty years now, he has made his own wines and has set himself the goal of creating an Alto Adige Super Merlot.

The basis for the wine production at Kornellhof is formed by the vineyards of the Brigl family, 11 hectares at elevations from 270 to 550 meters in Settequerce, Appiano-Monte, and Kampenn. “Our grapes enjoy more than 2,100 hours of sunshine per year, while cool nights provide the temperature differentials that lend them their prominent character,” Brigl explains.

The grapes that are pampered in this way form the foundation for the wines of the Kornellhof. After fermentation in stainless steel tanks, they are aged for 14 to 18 months in small oak casks and large oak barrels. Before they can be sold, though, they age again for nearly ten months in the bottle. In addition to Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, and Gewürztraminer along with Lagrein and Cabernet Sauvignon, Brigl focuses above all else on Merlot, with which he pursues an ambitious goal: to create a Super Merlot, an Alto Adige Pomerol which will serve as the calling card of the Kornellhof.

So there are no sour grapes in the process at the Kornellhof. Brigl considers working with them to be a privilege. And a guiding force: “For me, Kornell means home, this is my pole of calm,” he says, adding, “The estate winery also has to continue to be both home and a source of energy for our children and future generations.”

The imposing church, which also decorates their logo, is a witness to the importance which the town had in the Late Middle Ages – not least because of the favorite wines from the area. At that time, San Paolo was the main village in Oltradige, and even today, historical winegrowing farmhouses line the picturesque lanes.

Top wines are now produced, such as Sanctissimus, made from Pinot Blanc vines that are more than one hundred years old, or the Praeclarus sparkling wine, which is aged to perfection in a bunker from the Second World War. A total of two hundred winegrowing families tend 185 hectares of vineyards at elevations ranging from 300 to 700 m above sea level. In 2019, they completely redid their product line. Allow yourself to be surprised!

“Organic” can be a marketing gimmick, but for Karoline and Patrick Uccelli of the Dornach estate in Salorno, it is a philosophy of life. From Karoline’s education as a biologist through their diet and the – of course! – biodynamic winegrowing up to an agreement that Patrick made with the animals in the woods.

No, don’t worry: Patrick Uccelli is not a Dr. Doolittle, he doesn’t talk with the animals, but he knows about the significance of organic balance which from time to time can even endanger the financial element. “Our grapes seem to taste good to the deer,” Uccelli says, although he has not built any fences against the chewing, but rather, as he explains with a grin, he has struck a deal with the deer: “I won’t do anything to them if they keep out of the vineyards. They apparently understand this.”

And Uccelli, who is both a winegrower and an oenologist, is accustomed to traversing new paths. “I gladly experiment with different vinification methods, with the fermentation in large and small barrels, with different lengths of aging periods,” he says. Along those lines, the goal always remains the same: the production of wines that are as natural as possible.

And the production at the Dornach Estate is widely varied: the wines carry serial numbers on the label to underscore their uniqueness. Crispy wines with earthy, mineral-rich tones that they in fact draw from the soil with a particular composition: yellow and red loam mixed with iron oxide.
Is that the reason why the grapes also taste good to the deer?

Steep locations require a lot of work, sweat, and devotion, but they certainly also have their advantages. Thus 190 hectares of cultivation area are divided among the same number of members of the Cantina Kurtatsch at elevations from 220 to 900 meters – and all of that in just one community.

That is unique in all of Europe. And this winery also holds another record: Andreas Kofler is responsible for the young and dynamic team, and he took the helm in Cortaccia at the age of just 32 as the youngest president in the history of Alto Adige cooperative wineries. “In our vineyards, every grape variety finds its optimal location, its ideal terroir,” Kofler says.

The lower locations are among the warmest in Alto Adige and are ideal for Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. “The soil composition between Cortaccia and Termeno is completely similar to that of Pomerol in France,” the president explains. But up to 900 meters, on the other hand, grow varieties that prefer to have things cooler and airier and thrive best on calcareous dolomite soils – following the strictest guidelines for sustainability.

With a firm commitment and great respect for nature and resources, that is how unmistakable terroir wines that are strong in character are created at the Cantina Kurtatsch. “They each reflect their location without embellishment,” Kofler says, as he also tips his hand on the simple recipe as to why that is so: “In the winery, we just let the wine reveal itself.”

The Laimburg Provincial Winery in Vadena is the estate winery of the Province of Alto Adige. It has a whole series of vineyards in every winegrowing region in the province, and it is affiliated with the Laimburg Research Center for agriculture and forestry. So its task is not just to produce outstanding wines, but also to test new paths for Alto Adige winegrowing.

In total, the Laimburg Provincial Winery manages around 20 hectares of grape growing areas at elevations from 200 to 750 meters. “For us, the main focus of our work is maintaining and improving the quality of grapes and wine,” explains winemaker Urban Piccolruaz, “and, in so doing, it is necessary to test simple methods of management that save time and costs.”

From the grapes that are grown that way, around 90,000 bottles of wine are made every year. A portion of them, the estate wines, are traditional vintage wines that are typical of the grape variety. “The Burgselektion wines, on the other hand, are individual and aged primarily in large oak barrels or else they are select wines,” Piccoluraz says.

Since the early 1990s, barrels and bottles have been stored in a special cellar. “The opportunity basically presented itself to create the cellar in the porphyry rock of the Monte di Mezzo,” the winemaker reminisces. In retrospect, this unconventional decision proved itself to be doubly advantageous: on one hand, a cellar was built in which the naturally constant room temperature prevails, while on the other hand, a huge amount of money could be saved in comparison to the classic new construction of a cellar. And because the Laimburg Provincial Winery is in fact just that, the winery of the province, the taxpayers were grateful.

Mauracher Sand in Bolzano is (literally) built on the fertile alluvial soils formed by the Talvera river where the Mauracher vines grow. In a more figurative sense, it is also built on the history of this wine-growing region as well as the wine expertise and love of experimentation of Thomas Widmann and Elisabetta Foradori.
For decades, these two have been accumulating experience in wine growing and wine production until they set up the first Mauracher vineyard in 2003 using the autochthonous Lagrein grape variety. In 2011, they introduced the first vintage from their new project to the market: spontaneously fermented, prepared with a minimum of enological intervention, and naturally matured.
The fact that Alexander Widmann joined the team in 2020 goes to show that Mauracher Sand is, indeed, a family project. Alexander Widmann not only brings fresh new ideas to the table but shares the same philosophy which inspired—and keeps inspiring—the two founders. At the heart of that philosophy are respect for and appreciation of nature, which is also made clear by the fact that the project was officially certified as organic in 2022.
The young age of the Mauracher Sand project is also indicative of its scope: it yields a total of approx. 3,000 bottles of wine every year, which will include a Riserva vintage for the first time in 2024. And thus Mauracher Sand keeps growing every year thanks to its fertile foundation—both in a literal and in a figurative sense.

In the only surviving Lagrein terrain of Gries in Bozen, the unique alluvial soil of the rivers Eisack and Talfer with sandy loamy porphyry provides the natural foundation for our wines. We refrain from using any kind of fertilizers, but instead produce biodiversity through specific crop sowing. Thus, soils become autarchic, allowing striking personalities to thrive here year and again.
All making and creating in the vineyard and cellar alike is marked by gentle and careful procedures to allow the end product in the bottle to remain as natural as possible.
Often planted by our ancestors, the vines here have been defying all ages for decades now. And still, they stand and persevere, even against our modern and fast-paced world of today. To guarantee winegrowing in harmony with nature, we have been raising our vines with loving care according to certified ecological principals since 1996.
Reyter stands for certified ecological wines – a result of our idealism but above all else, a guarantee for our customers to enjoy purity and nature with every sip of wine.

How can an operation that was founded in 2005 have deep roots? The Bellutti Vineyard Estate in Termeno shows how it’s done: with an uncompromising path to the highest quality and their concentration on indigenous varieties. Exclusively indigenous varieties.

So the Bellutti Vineyard Estate is not even twenty years old, and with grape growing areas of 2.8 hectares in Termeno, it is also substantially manageable. And because the vineyard area is small, the product line is also not exhaustive. But that also has a second reason: winegrower Christian Bellutti concentrates only on indigenous varieties – on Lagrein, on Lago di Caldaro and thus Schiava, and on Gewürztraminer. Above all else Gewürztraminer.

The local varieties have the advantage of finding their optimal terroir here, and in the winery, Bellutti places great value upon it being possible to taste this terroir in the wines. “Our goal is to produce single varietal, elegant, genuine wines that do not have an overpowering effect and which reflect the individual varieties and locations as well as the vintage,” he explains.

For Bellutti, an uncompromising orientation toward the highest quality is furthermore necessary. In both the vineyard and the winery, the work is carried out with expertise, commitment, modern technology, and a love of detail. In the end, therefore, by following traditional, tried and true values.

Only with the sales does Bellutti follow an unusual path: the wines from his vineyard estate go over the counter in his own wine bar. But it is not within the property of the vineyard estate, but rather right in the middle of Termeno – at the main town square.

In the winegrowing village of Cornaiano, it’s always appropriate to have passion for wine – but of course only if the passion has already been in the family. With Lorenz Martini, that is precisely the case. He earned his stripes in the family’s own winery and then took the next step: to sparkling wine.

Within that context, it goes without saying that his many years of experience came in useful, and the fact that he had started from the very bottom up to learn to work with his hands. And from all of this it can be seen not least from the fact that Martini consistently focuses on quality. In his winery specializing in sparkling wines, grapes from Cornaiano, Appiano-Monte, and Cologna are processed. “In spite of the Mediterranean climate, these locations provide our sparkling wine with a pleasant freshness and an unmistakable aroma,” Martini says.

To make the sparkling wine, he uses 30 percent Chardonnay, another 30 percent Pinot Blanc, and 40 percent Pinot Noir, with four vintages aging in his vaulted cellar at the same time. Because in the Lorenz Martini Winery dedicated to sparkling wines in Cornaiano, production is according to the classic méthode champenoise bottle fermentation, so the wine is on the yeast for three years. After that, it continues to age in the bottle, with each one being riddled by hand.

In that way, a sparkling wine is created which has been described by experts as “having a scent of fresh bread crust and honeycomb with light tones of citrus fruit” and “a good mouth-feel, full-bodied, and harmonious in taste.”

Sparkling wine which, as can be read by this description, awakens the poet in us.

Stroblhof is a farm (‘maso’) with a long viticultur tradition: as early as 1600 documents mention winegrowing at this estate. It seems that from these early times, grapes were grown here at the base of the steep cliffs of the Mendelpass and benefitted from the optimal soils and unique diurnal temperatures variation.

We continue to work hard at this farm – both in the vineyards and the cellars – with the single minded scope of producing top quality wine. The low and select production allows us to guarantee the high quality of the wines. In fact, from 5.5 hectares, we only produce a maximum of 40,000 bottles, half of which is white, the other red. The altitude of 500 meters above sea level is an additional advantage to producing wines of unique character, good acidity, and with a good aging potential.

Stroblhof ranks with the top estates of South Tyrol and is the founding member of the small growers association, “Vignaioli dell’Alto Adige.”

The A. von Elzenbaum Estate Winery in Termeno was mentioned in a document for the first time in 1530, and its wines officially won their first awards in 1886. So it is not surprising, then, that as a result of this, there is still a focus on tradition, on typical cultivation, and respect for nature, in view of their history that dates back nearly 500 years.

A tradition of that length could represent a burden to many, but for winegrower Josef von Elzenbaum, it is more of an obligation. He safeguards it in a tried and true, long-established manner, but at the same time he keeps his eyes open for new, innovative, interesting, and promising paths and techniques.

In spite of that, or maybe specifically because of that, the wines of the A. von Elzenbaum Estate Winery are rooted in their terroir. “For me, it first and foremost has to do with preserving the character of my wines that is typical of the location and carefully coordinating the selection of the variety to the location,” the winegrower says. Elevation, soil composition, microclimate: all of that has to be involved in the evaluation of a location in order to find the optimal grapevine.

This care with the matching has led over the years to a broad palette of wines which the A. von Elzenbaum Estate Winery has in its product line: Lagrein and Cabernet, Pinot Noir and Lago di Caldaro superiore, Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay, and Red Muscat. But it doesn’t matter which wine you sample: you will taste Termeno, you will taste A. von Elzenbaum.

The term “member” is avoided at the Cantina Tramin, with “co-owner” being preferable when it comes to the 300 winegrowers who form the cooperative. After all, the entire foundation of the winery that was founded in 1998 is based upon its winegrowers, their families, and the 260 hectares of vineyards that they tend.

The vineyards of the inhabitants of Termeno lie at elevations from 250 to 850 meters, and therefore a broad palette of locations, soils, and microclimates can be drawn upon. For the work in the vineyards, there are strict specifications, and at the Cantina Tramin, great value is placed above all else upon the precise timing of the harvest. “Our specifications form the basis for the constantly high quality of our wines, for their extraordinary aroma tones, and the flavor with prominent fruit,” explains winemaker Willi Stürz.

And precisely the prominent fruit also has natural causes, first and foremost the large temperature differentials between day and night. “During the day, the warm, dry Ora wind from Lake Garda blows over our vineyards and prevents the occurrence of rot,” Stürz says. And at night, the temperatures sink to 10 degrees C. and below. The mix of, on one hand, nature being especially gracious and, on the other hand, the care, diligence, and consistency of the co-owners is therefore the Cantina Tramin’s recipe for success, from which the winery’s calling card profits: Gewürztraminer. Thus the Epokale is the first white wine from Italy to score 100 out of 100 points from the Wine Advocate of Robert Parker.

Three generations that all produce wine together? What may sound like the potential for conflict works quite well with the Pfitschers in Montagna. “Perhaps because we’re a little bit like our wines: different in character, but always direct and honest,” says the manager, Klaus Pfitscher, with a smile, the head of the Montagna “wine fools”, as he himself calls his family.

Thus every generation at the Pfitscher Estate Winery brings along something of their own: new ideas from one, a lot of experience from another, new knowledge from the former, the advantage of having already been through it all from the latter. But the most important thing for good cooperation is a common goal, says the senior member: “For us, it is filling the glass with elegance, character, and the best that nature can offer.”

For 150 years, the Pfitscher family has pursued this goal, of producing clear, linear wines with their very own identity, above all Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc. The fact that this has been successful may be due to the steep vineyards or the cool climate at elevations between 500 and 900 meters. Or perhaps a mixture of both, combined with a particular focus on nature. Thus the Pfitscher Estate Winery was the first in all of Italy to be awarded as a “ClimateHouse wine. ” This distinction is conferred not just for adhering to particular requirements for the energy efficiency and sustainability of the building, but also for producing in an especially environmental friendly and resource-conserving manner.

Winegrower, wine connoisseur, wine drinker: what Matthäus Ladurner’s great passion might be can be guessed without a great amount of difficulty just from this list alone. And he can live it out at the Partaneshof estate winery in Merano, an historical estate winery in the health resort city to which a bed and breakfast hotel also belongs.

Merano was once regarded as the southern balcony of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and its particular climate has turned the city into a health resort that is renowned and popular throughout all of Europe. And more than just that: a lot of sunshine, very little precipitation, mild temperatures, and good air circulation are also optimal for winegrowing, which also emphasizes the century-old wine tradition at the Partaneshof estate winery in Merano. A tradition which proprietor Matthäus Ladurner continues to cultivate today with passion.

So it is not only organic fruit that grows in the orchards around the Partaneshof, but also the basis for top-quality wines. “We make a comparatively broad palette of varietals, ranging from Lagrein and Pinot Noir to Chardonnay, Schiava, and Cabernet all the way to Shiraz,” Ladurner explained.

And it is specifically from the indigenous Schiava grapes that an extraordinary wine is made at the Partaneshof in Merano. “With the ‘Merano Küchelberg’, we produce the typical light Merano Schiava variant,” explains the winegrower, who also has a second favorite in his assortment on offer. “Chardonnay is one of our preferred Alto Adige wines: a fruity, noble white wine that goes with all occasions.”

In the colorful mosaic of Alto Adige winegrowing, there are larger and smaller tiles. The Kiemberger Estate Winery in Terlano, with an annual production of just around 8,000 bottles, is among the smaller. Nevertheless, something would be missing if this tile weren’t there.

The Kiemberger Estate Winery is located in the winegrowing village of Terlano in the Adige Valley, with its vineyards in the village itself and in neighboring Andriano. On a total of just 1.5 hectares of grape growing areas, Chardonnay, Müller Thurgau, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc are grown, which form the basis for the classic Terlano wine. “The first three grow on a sandy-loamy limestone soil in Andriano, while the Sauvignon Blanc, on the other hand, is planted in Terlano, where it finds a sandy porphyry soil,” explains Norbert Kofler, winegrower at the Kiemberger Estate Winery.

Kofler has been making his own wines since 2007 and also markets them independently. “Our wines must first and foremost meet our own demands,” Kofler says. To do so, the grapes are harvested in the second half of September, they are pressed gently, and then the mash is fermented in stainless steel tanks at a constant temperature of 19 degrees Celsius. “Our wines are matured on the fine yeast, primarily in small and medium-sized oak casks, for at least eight months with the Terlano Classico and up to 32 months with the Lagrein Riserva,” the winegrower says.

The wines that are created in this way are “originals strong in character,” says Kofler, in which the properties of the soil and the vintage can be tasted. “Our wine is anything but mainstream,” the head of the small but impressive Kiemberger Estate Winery says. He goes on to add, “And yet it is somehow classic.”

The Rametz Castle Estate Winery in Merano has one of the richest traditions in the province. There is documentary evidence of wine grapes having been grown here since 1227, and Pinot Noir since 1860. Why is that worthy of mention? It’s quite simple: those at Rametz Castle were the first Pinot Noir vines in all of Alto Adige.

The fact that wine grapes have been grown here for almost 800 years is not by chance: the climate in Merano is ideal, and the soils on the moraine hill upon which the manor stands are water-permeable. These conditions are also still made use of today, with the 10 hectares of grape growing areas around Maretz Castle being planted with Pinot Noir, Riesling, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapevines are supported for the most part with Guyot trellises, although with a special feature: “We use only posts made from weather-resistant chestnut wood, and in the castle vineyard, we avoid the use of concrete posts that are broadly utilized elsewhere today,” explains general manager Stanislaus Schmid.

What is also special are the cellars in which the harvest from the castle’s own vineyards are made into wine. The large cellar originated in the eighteenth century, is made entirely of stone blocks, and without a doubt is among the most beautiful cellars in the entire province. “This is where we keep the large oak barrels, while in the small cellar from the twelfth century, the valuable barrique wines in small oak casks are matured.” So at the Rametz Castle Estate Winery in Merano, history and tradition meet the visitor at every turn. And also at the level of a museum, since for decades now, tools and equipment from winegrowing and winemaking have been collected here. Just the Winemaking Museum alone is worth a visit.

Nearly 800 meters of elevation change between the lowest and highest vineyards: hardly any other estate winery has such a broad palette of locations as the Peter Zemmer Estate Winery, founded in 1928 in Cortina sulla Strada del Vino. That is reflected in the balanced and attractive assortment of wines.

The vineyards of the Peter Zemmer Estate Winery range from 220 to 1,030 meters above sea level. Wines filled with character have their origins here, such as Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Grigio, but also promising red wine varieties such as the autochthonous Lagrein and the elegant Pinot Noir.

“Environmentally-conscious care of the grapevines and sustainable soil management as well as yield reduction in the vineyard are important to us,” says Peter Zemmer, who leads the estate winery of the same name in its third generation. Thus great value is placed upon giving the grapes sufficient free space and making an ideal interaction between light and shadow possible. The result is healthy and mature grapes from which natural, drinkable wines are made: wines which, as Zemmer says, “excellently reflect the character of their origin and expressively join together the special features of a unique terroir.”

What is characteristic for Peter Zemmer are the white Burgundy varieties, whereby it is above all else the Chardonnay Riserva Vigna Crivelli and the Pinot Grigio Riserva Giatl with which he has made his name. In parallel to that, the grapes which thrive at the highest vineyard at around 1,030 meters above sea level at the Koflhof in Aldino are used for the Pinot Noir Riserva Vigna Kofl. That is the new calling card for the estate winery and has been on the market since 2019.

Creating wines with character. That is the goal of Paul Huber at the Griesserhof in Varna. The winery is one of the northernmost in Alto Adige and focuses above all else on white wines. But Zweigelt and Pinot Noir are also grown there.

The foundation for winegrowing in Varna was created by the Ice Age. Gigantic glaciers left behind a fertile moraine hill there on which today primarily white wine grapes grow. Huber uses three separate vineyards at his Griesserhof: Gols, Gall, and Rigger.

The Gols hill lies in the middle of the valley, with the vineyards directly at the farmhouse. Wine grapes were grown here as early as the fourteenth century, as was recorded in the records of the Novacella monastery. So it is no wonder that the loamy, sandy soil is in fact ideal for a series of grape varieties. “For us, Gols is the best location for our Sylvaner,” Huber says. Gall, on the other hand, which is located at an impressive elevation of 800 meters, is the cultivation area for the Kerner of the Griesserhof, while Rigger in the warm basin in the Val Riga provides the best conditions for expressive Veltliner wines.

“It holds true for all of our locations that we only press the grapes with the best quality and work with them according to the most modern of standards of winery technology,” the winegrower explains, and adds with a few clear words, “It is important to us to make wines with their own character.”

The motto at the Michael Puff winegrowing estate in Cornaiano is “Keep it chill!”. The addressee of that instruction is not, however, the founder of the winegrowing estate of the same name but the vines, some of which are grown in high grass here: wild shoot distribution, no pruning, and as little defoliation as possible. “Our method is unconventional, but our ultimate goal is always to put the vines under as little stress as possible,” says Michael Puff.

And Michael’s philosophy in the cellar is not much different: his wines are spontaneously fermented in concrete barrels and then aged for twelve months in small oak barrels before they go back in the concrete barrels for another six to nine months. “We are going entirely without fining and filtration in the bottling process,” says Michael Puff, “so our wine is very much a no-frills product.”

Michael Puff founded his own winegrowing estate in Cornaiano/Ronchi in 2020 after completing vocational training at the Laimburg professional school, some internships at winegrowing estates and wineries, and conducting experiments at his own parents’ estate. Today, Michael’s winegrowing estate is based on locations in Cornaiano/Ronchi and Appiano Monte. He has focused exclusively on Pinot Noir—and a vision of fresh and new Pinot Noir stylistics.

The Pinot Noirs from the Michael Puff winegrowing estate bear a dragonfly in the label that symbolizes elegance, power, and timelessness—and is also at home on the winegrowing estate.

 

Wineries are something almost sacred for wine connoisseurs. And at the Muri-Gries Monastery Winery, that impression may be even stronger. After all, up until the end of the eighteenth century, the rooms which are used as a winery today were the church of the Augustinian seminary at that time. And even today, the winery is reached directly through the cloister of the monastery.

The connection between wine and monastery which has already existed for centuries therefore also becomes clear at the monastery complex. Thus the heart of the vineyards, the monastery meadow, is still a part of the monastery complex today in the Bolzano district of Gries. In addition, the grapes from other vineyards in and around Bolzano and the Oltradige also come to the monastery winery.

The proprietor of the winery and the estate is the Benedictine Community of Muri Gries, while the daily work concerning wine lies in the hands of laymen, first and foremost winemaker Christian Werth. He describes the wines from the monastery winery as “elegant, linear, emphatically typical to the variety, powerful, and closely connected with their origins.”

Special attention is due to the Lagrein. “We want to display this traditional variety in all of its facets: from the rosé known as Kretzer to the Lagrein that is traditionally matured in large wooden barrels to the Riservas, which are carefully aged in small oak casks,” says Werth.

Thus it is no surprise that great emphasis is placed upon tradition at the Muri-Gries Monastery Winery. As well as on continuity, striving for quality, and the bond with nature and the cultural landscape. Values, it is to be understood, are upheld in a monastery.