Vinařství v jižním Tyrolsku

The vineyards of the Klasen Hof in Nalles are steep, which makes work with machines nearly impossible. For that reason, the majority of the work is done by hand. Which may sound like great toil, but for the Thurner family, not only is that something which is self-evident, it is also an advantage. “In that way, we can have a targeted influence upon the improvement of the quality of the grapes in the vineyard,” so the family philosophy goes. At the Klasen Hof in Nalles, having so much passion is a tradition.

In the early twentieth century, Alois Mair, the great-grandfather of the growers there today, had the courage to build a farm out of nothing and, from the very beginning on, to also focus on winegrowing. “Klasen Luis”, as he was known, was thus able to lay the foundation for an operation that continues to be run successfully today. The Thurner family is aware that, “We profit form comprehensive knowledge that has been passed down from generation to generation about the cultivation of grapes and from many years of experience in the winery.”

Their motto is that high quality comes from both the grapevine and the barrel. Therefore, the focus is on the right balance between the work in the vineyard and in the winery. What emerges are thus wines with strong character in which the aromas reflect the cultivation zone – and the passion with which the Klasen Hof in Nalles makes their Lagrein, Schiava, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Blanc. For around a century.

There are a total of eleven wineries from Trentino that find room under the roof of the Cavit consortium, which was founded in 1950. The area covered by Cavit extends over no less than 6,350 hectares of grape growing areas, of which 5,250 are managed by winegrowing families. But one thing is clear: the palette is extremely broad, but a couple of pearls nevertheless stand out – first and foremost Vino Santo and Spumante.

There were first of all a few cooperative wineries that launched a consortium in 1950 in which forces were to be bundled together and synergies exploited. It became a model of success which additional wineries joined little by little. Today, Cavit guides winegrowing in broad sections of Trentino.

The oenologist who takes responsibility for this is Anselmo Martini, who is especially proud of the Cavit line “Maso”: “We developed this line with the researchers at the San Michele Institute,” Martini says. “They represent our top product – genuine crus that are tied to clearly defined terroirs.”

Cavit has over a dozen varieties in the line, and it thus reflects the entire breadth of the wine that is grown in Trentino. To be emphasized as a particularity within that context is the dessert wine Vino Santo Trentino DOC. The harvest for it takes place for the most part late in October. In addition, the Cavit consortium is renowned for its sparkling wines. The basis for this is provided by the countless grape varieties that are classically fermented in the bottle.

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 Kreithof below the ruins of Leuchtenburg Castle is the heart of the Nicolussi-Leck Estate Winery in Caldaro. The estate itself originated in the thirteenth century, but the winery, with several floors and perfectly built right into the hillside, is highly modern. At the Kreithof, the symbiosis between old and new has thus been successful.

The Kreithof is around 800 years old, and for somewhat more than a century, it has been in the possession of the Nicolussi-Leck family which originally came from the village of Luserna in Trentino. During the First World War, they moved to Lake Caldaro, where they made use of the perfect conditions for winegrowing to build the family’s own estate winery. Today, Jakob Nicolussi-Leck and his family tend six hectares of vineyards at an elevation of 350 meters. “Our locations are extremely varied,” says Nicolussi-Leck. “We can choose from slopes facing east, south, or west for the ideal orientation for each grape variety.”

Added to the ideal exposure are a mild climate, a constant breeze from the south, warm, loamy sandy soils, and last but not least the family’s know-how. That led in the 2010s to the decision to make wine themselves from the estate’s own grapes. To do so, a highly modern winery was integrated into the hillside – with all of the advantages that location and technology can offer. The 2017 vintage was the first one to be made into wine at the Kreithof. “The processing of the grapes takes place only with the help of gravity,” explains the winegrower at the Nicolussi-Leck Estate Winery in Caldaro. But the wine is aged not in the modern winery, but in the historical cellar of the Kreithof. The traditional and the modern: at the Nicolussi-Leck Estate Winery, they meld together into perfection.

Warm temperatures during the day, cool nights, ideal soils, and grapevines some of which are over a hundred years old: it’s no wonder that Roberta, Cristina, and Giuseppe Fugatti decided to set up the Von Blumen Wine project in Pochi above Salorno. With the Millesimo 2013, they began with the bottling of their first wines.

The Fugattis have over twelve hectares of grape growing areas in Pochi. Their foundation is formed by limestone and porphyry soils, and the climate here in the extreme south of Alto Adige is ideal for winegrowing: during the vegetation period, average temperatures of 18 degrees C. are registered, and the cool nights give the grapes a lot of aroma. “In our wines, you can taste the terroir”, declares Giuseppe Fugatti. “The mineral-rich quality combines with a natural spiciness and thus imparts to the wine a lively and refreshing balance in flavor.”

In addition, the special features of the various grape varieties are noticed with Von Blumen Wine, above all else the Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir, and Lagrein, but the management that is close to nature is also apparent. “The protection of the soil and the habitat is of fundamental importance for the quality of the raw materials and for the sustainable protection of the vineyards,” says the winegrower.

In the end, it’s not just about thinking of today. Fugatti adds, “We have the task of preserving the foundations so that future generations are also provided with the gift of a whole gamut of wines which reflect the love for the region of origin as well as for the culture of the people who take care of them.”

In the 1990s, Rainer Zierock was something of a rock star among oenologists. He was an agronomist, a university professor, and a winegrowing consultant in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and France. But Zierock created what for him was the ideal, perfect estate winery in Alto Adige. In a manor from the fourteenth century, he founded the Dolomytos Estate Winery in Auna di Sotto on the Renon plateau.

Along with Margret Hubmann, in the late 1990s he redid the entire estate, planting 150 different grape varieties and allowing himself to be guided with everything by Greek mythology. Thus the pentagon plays a prominent role for Zierock, his wines are produced according to the pentagram principle, and he also developed a tasting system on the basis of this geometric form.

In addition, panta rhei is regarded as the leitmotif of the Dolomytos Estate winery in Auna di Sotto: everything is flowing, and specifically in the winery, as well, which is set up according to the principle of gravitation. “All work steps can be carried out using natural slopes without outside influences – all the way to bottling,” explains Norbert Marginter, who has continued to run the Dolomytos Estate Winery as the new proprietor following the ideas of the professor, who passed away in 2009.

Three hectares of vineyards are tended as close to nature as possible, the grapes are harvested with a strict selection process, they are fermented with their own natural yeast, and they spend 10 to 14 days on the skins. After that, they mature for at least 24 months in cylinders made from French oak. “All of our wines are blends of Italian and Greek grape varieties,” Marginter explains. So it is not only with mythology that the Greeks made their mark at the Dolomytos Estate Winery.

Storing wines underground is not uncommon, but truly underground, we mean, in a mining tunnel. This is happening at the Großkemat winery in Prissian. Soon.

On the grounds of Großkemat estate, there are several tunnels. Josef Knoll, the owner of the estate, is converting one of them and will use it as a bottle storage in the future. Additionally, the cultivation area of the estate is gradually expanding, and the cellar is being upgraded. So, the Großkemat winery is growing while embracing its roots. "We're daring a fresh start to the almost forgotten winemaking tradition at the estate," explains Knoll.

Throughout, Knoll's goal is simple: "I want to do justice to the potential of our unique location and produce the best grapes," he says. By 'unique location,' the Prissian winemaker not only refers to the special porphyry structure of the soils but also the hillside location and optimal orientation of his vineyards planted with Pinot Blanc, Solaris, and Schiava vines.

Whether red or white: The wines crafted by Josef Knoll from the grapes of the Großkemat estate reflect the terroir as authentically as possible. "I emphasize that they are natural. This gives them an appealing elegance and depth, offering enjoyable drinking," explains Knoll.

And in the future, they will also be stored underground. In the tunnel.

The Santerhof is located in Rio Molino, at the entrance to the Val Pusteria, which is better known for its potatoes than for its wine grapes. And yet, The vineyards of the Santerhof are the northernmost in Alto Adige, and the Santerhof itself is the northernmost winery in all of Italy. Resistance is therefore in demand here, including against fungal diseases.

For that reason, the Santerhof focuses on fungus-resistant varieties, and thus on vines that defend themselves with their own power against diseases such as mildew and therefore in normal years don’t need to be treated at all. Even in exceptional years, only organic aids are put to use at the Santerhof, since it has been managed according to organic guidelines since as early as 1991.

So at the Santerhof, they are not so inclined to follow well-trodden paths, but rather to blaze their own trails. That is shown by the organic cultivation, as well as by the concentration on fungus-resistant varieties. “We only grow the grape varieties Bronner and Regent, from which we make the best wines, and since 2008 exclusively in the estate’s own winery,” explains Wilhelm Gasser. The wines are sold almost completely right from the farmhouse.

The special climate, the soil with a high portion of silicate, and the elevation of just under 800 meters above sea level at which the vineyards are located lend the wines from the Santerhof very special flavor tones. Gasser describes his wines as having “sleek acidity, multilayered aromas, and mild tannins.”
Is that how the real Northern Lights taste?

OK, we’ll admit it: if someone reads the name of the Vinzig Estate Winery in Bolzano-Cologna, then a German-speaker will immediately begin thinking of a play on words. For example, the name also sounds like a word for “tiny.” But there is nothing tiny about their product line. Let’s just stick with the fact that the sunny slopes above what is today the Guncina Promenade in Bolzano was already called as early as 1333 the “vineyard of paradise”.

And that is precisely the location of the Vinzig Estate Winery of Stefan Veit, who knows to appreciate this privilege. “We live and work in a location that can demonstrate a centuries-long tradition of winegrowing,” says Veit, emphasizing that his estate already appeared for the first time in documents from the thirteenth century. “As a part of this rich history, we want to bring the enthusiasm for wine into today,” says Veit.

This “today” distinguishes itself with no fewer than nine different wines that are created under the Vinzig brand. As single varietal wines, these include a Yellow Muscat, a Lagrein, and a collection of Schiavas: one matured in stainless steel tanks, one in glass carboys, one in small oak casks, and one in large oak barrels (the latter, tellingly enough, carries the name “Paradis”).

Vinzig also has a rosé in their assortment. It is a blend of Vernatsch, Lagrein, and Red Muscat. Like all of the other wines, the rosé at Vinzig is only coarsely filtered before it is bottled. That also holds true for the other cuvées in the product line: a red made from Lagrein, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon, and a white with Pinot Blanc, Gewürztraminer, and Sauvignon Blanc. It seems that there are a lot of choices in paradise.

In the search for the best Gewürztraminer vineyards, sooner or later the seeker also arrives in Sella above Termeno, where wine has been grown for four centuries. For a good two hundred years now, that is also the location of the Plattenhof Estate Winery that is run by the Dissertori family – today along with the hotel and restaurant of the same name.

The Dissertoris are therefore winegrowers, restaurateurs, and hoteliers all in one, but if the question is posed as to how they would describe themselves, the answer comes out clear and simple. They are first and foremost wine connoisseurs and wine lovers, as Werner Dissertori replies. Whereby “wine” in this case stands for Gewürztraminer, as the Plattenhof Estate Winery is in fact one that has dedicated itself completely to a single grape variety. And to the goal of producing top-quality wines as a small, hands-on winery.

The preconditions for this are in any case present: the location of the Plattenhof Estate Winery is blessed for that grape, their know-how is broad, and the family’s experience ranges over many years. As a small family-run operation, every detail is attended to here by themselves, and everyone has a clear role in the operation, whether that is in the hotel, the traditional dining establishment, or in fact in the winery.

But in any case, wine plays a weighty role in all three pillars of the operation. And we in fact know what wine means in Sella above Termeno: the best Gewürztraminer, of course.

The Hof am Keller: the first owner of the estate mentioned in a document was one Nikolaus am Keller, who ran the winegrowing estate as early as in 1431. The estate bears his name to this day. Approximately one hundred years later, the owner at the time was widely known as a wine merchant—that, too, can be looked up in historical documents. His network of customers extended all the way to Vipiteno and from there across the Brenner Pass to Schwaz and Kufstein in what is now Austria.

For more than 200 years now, the March family has owned this inherited estate. They take advantage of the favorable location of the estate to cultivate the right grape varieties: mainly Pinot Noir, followed by Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc, and Sauvignon.

Until the late 1990s, wine was not only made from the estate’s own grapes but also from grapes supplied by others. These days, Maike and Christian run the over 700-year-old estate and produce part of the wines themselves. The grapes are meticulously cared for from pruning to harvesting and are then transferred to the centuries-old wine cellar to age and mature into a fine wine.

It goes without saying that tradition is not neglected in all that: more than half a millennium of history obliges, after all.

When a child draws a castle, the similarity with Wehrburg Castle in Prissiano-Tesimo is astonishing. In the end, this fortress is along the lines of a storybook castle. Erected in the thirteenth century, it forms the heart of the estate winery of the same name, in which Jakob Holzner creates wines in which the terroir can be tasted.

Wehrburg Castle has been in the possession of the Holzner family since the middle of the last century. Since that time, it has been converted into a castle hotel, but winegrowing continues to play a central role here. The basis for this is provided by 2.5 hectares of vineyards at an elevation of around 500 meters above sea level. The slopes have a southeastern exposure, the soils are rocky, yet at the same time containing a good content of limestone and loam. Traditional grape varieties grow here, such as Sauvignon Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Schiava, Pinot Noir, and Zweigelt.

Jakob Holzner places particular value on quality. That begins with careful work in the vineyard and reduced yields, and thus a high-quality harvest is guaranteed. In the winery, as little technical support is relied upon as possible, “And for that reason, more sensitivity is required,” as Holzner emphasizes. “And so we create authentic wines that reflect the terroir: the location, the vines, the soil composition, and the mild climate of Prissiano.”

A mineral-rich quality, elegance, and a multilayered character are the confirmation of the wines from Wehrburg Castle, which thus have gone far beyond the sour beverage that was drunk in the Middle Ages. Which makes it possible to enjoy storybook castle even more.

Under the sign of the raven, Stephan Pramstrahler of the Grottnerhof in Fiè produces multifaceted wines, all of which carry the name of a different bird – “A bird with great character,” as Pramstrahler emphasizes. For the old Grottnerhof, winegrowing in any case means a new future.

In 2007, Pramstrahler, who runs the Hotel Turmwirt in Fiè, purchased the dilapidated Grottnerhof in Novale di Fiè and thoroughly renovated it – with a great deal of care and respect for the history of the farmhouse. Thus great pains were gone through to preserve the traditional wood-paneled Tyrolean Stube parlor, the curing kitchen, the oven, and the vault over the hallway. “In the cellar, there are even still old wine barrels that tell of earlier times,” the owner tells us.

And the barrels fit perfectly, since in its new life, everything in the Grottnerhof revolves around wine. Or, more aptly: around multifaceted wines with lively, mineral-rich tones and a special finish: Sauvignon Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Noir that reflect the character of the surroundings. And those of the people who stand behind them. “The maturation of our wines takes place in stainless steel tanks and in large wooden barrels,” explains Pramstrahler. “That requires great attention and a lot of patience.”

What remains is just the question about the “birds with great character” that decorate the labels of the Grottnerhof bottles that were designed by artist Florin Kompatscher. And especially the question as to why the common raven was chosen as the “coat of arms bird”. The answer is simple: not only is the raven indigenous to the Novale di Fiè, it can also be trained very well. And above all else, it is highly intelligent.

For generations, the Seppi family has had strong ties to wine growing—even stronger than usual in a village such as Caldaro, where wine plays an important role to begin with. These days, the family-owned Seppi Vineyards in Caldaro are run by Werner Seppi—supported by his family—, and have been for more than 20 years.
In 2005, it was decided to venture away from the conventional ways and lead the vineyards down a new path. “Gradually our wish grew to remold the vineyards according to our personal, more individual ideas. We wanted to depart from well-trod paths and develop something special and sustainable,” says Werner Seppi. And so they switched to biodynamic agriculture—first in the vineyards and in 2016 in the wine cellar, too.
This second milestone was born from the decision to take a portion of the grapes for the wine in their own cellars to create wines that reflected the special characteristic of the wine estate and its locations. They even go so far as to vinify the grapes from the different vineyards separately. “In Caldaro, we refer to small geographic units as ‘riegel’,” says Werner Seppi, “and we mature the grapes grown in those riegel units separately.”
Consequently, wines from the Seppi Vineyards can be traced back to the smallest geographic unit. Gewürztraminer and Pinot Blanc, for example, are grown on the Panigl riegel; Sauvignon, on the Prey riegel; Schiava (Vernatsch), on the See riegel, and Cabernet Franc on the Feld riegel. In other words: they are taking the idea of terroir very seriously at Seppi Vineyards.

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.

There is a very good reason why the wines of the Untermaurerhof estate in Santa Maddalena, Bolzano, carry the earth pyramids of Renon in their name and their logo. After all, this natural monument—the highest and probably most beautifully shaped earth pyramids in Europe—can be found in Soprabolzano, right above the Katzenbachgraben, which is also where the vineyards of the Untermaurerhof are located.
The wine-growing area is centered around the steep and sunny terraces of Santa Maddalena in Bolzano. They are among the oldest wine-growing sites in the capital of Alto Adige—unsurprisingly so, seeing as they can offer everything vines and grapes love best: lots of light and sun, warm temperatures, and not to forget substantial temperature differences between day and night.
In addition, there is the soil, and one does not have to be a geologist in order to understand its structure due to the earth pyramids: they consist of glacial moraine rocks and weather-beaten porphyry, and they can store heat like none other. “Low harvests are typical of these hillside sites. This requires careful selection and extremely careful processing of the grapes,” explains Wolfgang Hofer from the Pyramidis wine estate.
Consequently, its wines are the result of careful selection and only come in limited editions. The range of varieties is small, too. It includes—and that should almost go without saying considering the location—a Santa Maddalena Classico as well as a flowery, fresh and aromatic Müller-Thurgau, an elegant and intense Pinot Noir Riserva, and a Pinot Blanc which wins over wine lovers with a fruity range of aromas and a well-structured body.

Anyone who talks about the Castelatsch wine estate in Cengles, Val Venosta, must first talk about construction. The construction business, that is. After all, the owner of the wine estate, Werner Schönthaler, has a background in construction and has been researching ecological construction materials for a decade. “It has always been our goal to find alternatives for existing construction methods, so we started producing bricks made of hemp and lime,” explains Werner Schönthaler.
This construction material is sustainable through and through—and it was also used to build the Hof Castelatsch estate located on the slopes above Cengles. However, sustainability is not only skin-deep here: Werner Schönthaler pursues his agricultural activities with the same approach (and passion) which he already applied to his attempts to revolutionize the construction business.
And so the values at Hof Castelatsch reflect all those buzzwords that have become more and more popular since the climate crisis: future-friendly, for example, or health and well-being. And these values are, in turn, reflected in viticulture. After all, it is very important to Schönthaler to produce his wines in harmony with nature; in other words, sustainably …
… while following his own rules. His disinterest in conventional methods, which he already demonstrated in the construction business, also extends to wine, prompting him to tread on different paths. His grape varieties are all fungus-resistant (PIWI). His Eschkolot wine, for example, is a spontaneously fermented cuvée containing the Solaris, Muscaris, and Souvignier Gris grape varieties. And marble powder. Different paths, remember?

Right in the midst of the vineyards and yet in the city: the Zundlhof has a unique location in Bolzano. It has been run for nearly fifty years by the Ramoser family in particular as a classic winegrowing farmhouse, but also with rooms rented for farmhouse holidays.

The Zundlhof lies precisely one and a half kilometers from the center of the capital city, and since 1975, Helmuth Ramoser has been in charge. With the support of his daughter Johanna and her husband Martin, he manages half a hectare of grape growing area in Caldaro but above all else the three hectares around the Zundlhof in Bolzano “with lots of love and passion,” as Ramoser himself says.

Within that context, though, his vineyard in Bolzano is more like a wine garden. After all, although he is in fact located in the classic Bolzano Santa Maddalena zone, in contrast to most of the other vineyards there those of the Zundlhof do not cling to the slopes, but rather lie nearly flat on the valley floor.

This is where Ramoser finds the best conditions for the grape varieties that he grows. Without any surprises for this location, these are first and foremost Schiava and Lagrein, the “ingredients” of Santa Maddalena which Ramoser makes at the Zundlhof. Added to those are Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon and, as the only white wine variety, Pinot Blanc.

The best place to taste the small but excellent palette of wines is in the arcade of the Zundlhof. Right in the midst of the vineyards and yet in the city.