Alto Adige

For the first time in eighteen months, I found myself in Europe exploring and tasting the wines of northern Italy, where the Alps fall down to the great lakes for some of the country's most famous and stunning scenery. After a brief stop in Franciacorta just south of Lake Iseo, I firstly concentrated on one of Italy's most geographically extreme and unusual regions, the Alto Adige where some of Italy's highest vineyards are located. At the beginning of November it was cold and wet, with snow falling on the peaks, giving an indication of how non-Italian the region is. 

geography and history

Alto Adige/Südtirol

The Adige river flows down from the Alps into a valley surrounded by the Dolomites that somehow have vines growing on their steep rocky slopes. This is Italy at its most Germanic - it belonged to Austria-Hungary until the First World War and it's now a semi-autonomous region that shares as much with its Austrian neighbour as it does with Italy. The place names are in German as well as Italian (Südtirol instead of Alto Adige); both languages appear on wine labels, and locals switch between the two languages, confident and certain in German, gesticulating with self-doubt in Italian. In either language, the accent is staccato and sharp, and quite hard to understand.

vines falling into the town of Bolzano

This is one of Italy's most distinctive regions. Vines are planted at altitudes of 250m up to over 1,000m - these highest vineyards are already covered in snow. The weather is extreme, hitting heights of 40˚C in the summer, with cool, fresh nights, followed by cold, snowy winters. Warm breezes flow from Lake Garda to the south, with cool air in the north where Riesling and Sylvaner are planted at altitude. These conditions produce aromatic white wines with notably high acidity, and light reds, all of a consistently high quality.

grape varieties

Just a look at the grape varieties grown here shows how Germanic this region is. Gewürztraminer most likely originates from the local town of Tramin, from where it made its way to Alsace and found some added spice aromas (Gewürz means spice). The wines here retain more acidity than is often the case, and they're not quite as full bodied.

Perhaps the two most interesting wines from German varieties I tried on the trip came from Sylvaner and Kerner. Sylvaner is a quality grape that gets overlooked both in Alsace and Germany, so it was refreshing to try some good examples here in Italy. Again, the wines were marked by high acidity, with herbaceous, citrus and stone fruit aromas, and not as earthy as wines from Franken in Germany. Kerner, which is a crossing between Riesling and Trollinger (a black grape grown locally as Schiava) was a bigger surprise, with plenty of body and structure to counter the high acidity. 

wines by the glass

These aren't the only varieties grown, with up to 25 planted in the small valley (Alto Adige produces less than 1% of Italy's wines). By far the most interesting and distinctive of the non-German varieties is Pinot Bianco (or Weißburgunder in German), a grape variety again often overlooked elsewhere. Surprise, surprise, the wines have high acidity, but with nutty, spicy, stone and tropical fruit aromas that provide body and structure and some ageability. There is also Chardonnay, which at its best can be like a creamy, spicy Chablis.

As for the black grapes, Lagrein is common, with rich, chocolate, ripe black fruit aromas. It can be a little too much, although Franz Haas does a lighter, more considered example. One of the more extraordinary wines of the trip was from neighbouring Trentino; Merlino 1400 (€25; ✪✪✪✪✪), was a fortified wine displaying all the young, fresh, fruity characteristics of Lagrein, but moderated by the added alcohol. The wine is from 2014, while the brandy is from 2000, leading to a very integrated fortified wine - and it's great to see such a quality fortified wine from an area of Europe not associated with that style.

Alto Adige also makes Italy's most consistent Pinot Noir (or Pinot Nero or Blauburgunder - the number of names for grapes and places can be bewildering). It's deceptively light, with red fruits, spices, and acidity. It's often planted at altitude - Franz Haas is experimenting with a vineyard at 1,150m - which adds to the intensity of the aromas. Fruity when young, the Pinot Noirs of Alto Adige can mature into earthy, sophisticated wines that retain the fruits and the acidity even after a number of years.

These wines are especially worth looking out for as they display the unique characteristics of this varied region. With different altitudes, exposures, and microclimates, Alto Adige can be a surprisingly hard region to pin down, meaning that it's a region always worth re-exploring.

tasting at Franz Haas winery, showcasing the many grapes grown in the region

 next blog post: the incomparable wines of Montalcino

Italian Whites

The reputation of Italian white wine has never been as high as its reds, even though sweet whites have been made since Roman times and Chianti was originally a white wine. Until recently, the grapes were often fermented at too high temperatures, causing the wine to lose its aromatics, and the wines would be made even flabbier by skin contact and unnecessary barrel ageing. Italy's ubiquitous white grape, Trebbiano di Toscana, also didn't help the reputation. Known as Ugni Blanc in France, the grape is bland, neutral, lifted only by high acidity (which is why it's used for making Cognac).

The last twenty years, however, have seen a huge improvement in the quality of Italian whites, with fermentation at lower temperatures and in stainless steel vats. There is now a wide range of well-made, fresh, aromatic whites to choose from - some of them inexpensive for everyday drinking, others of higher quality but still good value.

In preparation for my Diploma exam, which is in June, I've been tasting some Italian whites to get a sense of the different identity of each variety and the region they come from.

Pinot Grigio

Such has been the transformation of Italian whites that Pinot Grigio is almost synonymous with white wine. Refreshing, easy, slightly fruity, and inexpensive, wines from Pinot Grigio dominate wines by the glass in bars and restaurants. The grape is the same as Alsace's Pinot Gris (the grey of the name referring to the grape's dark coloured skins), but produces a completely different style of wine as the grapes are picked much earlier, keeping the acidity high but the aromas more neutral. Richer versions are picked later, maintaining acidity but adding aromatics. These full, floral wines defy Pinot Grigio's reputation and can be very attractive and still well priced. The popularity of the wines has seen plantings mushroom in Italy: from 3,500ha in 1990 to over 17,000 today. It's found all over the north-east of Italy, mostly in Veneto, but also in Trentino and Fruili, where the best and richest examples come from. 

wine

Blason Pinot Grigio 2013, Fruili ($9.99)
This a good example of a fuller version of Pinot Grigio: very floral (honeysuckle, acacia), with stone fruits (peach, apricot) and tropical fruits (melon, pineapple). The finish is quite spicy, with nutmeg and ginger. All at a very low price. ✪✪✪✪

Cortese

Cortese is the grape of Gavi, a town in Piemonte. The grape is notable for high acidity and mineral aromas. It also produces high yields, which can lead to overproduction and rather neutral wines. This is what happened in the 1980s, when the popularity of Gavi declined after its heyday in the 1960s and 70s due to an excess of insipid wines. The quality of Gavi is rising again, producing good value, faintly aromatic, refreshing, and lightly rich wines. The best wines are labelled Gavi di Gavi or Gavi di Tassarolo, and the most concentrated wines come from the subzone of Rovereto.

wine

Terre da Vino Agricole Masseria del Carmenitani 2014, Gavi di Gavi ($11.99)
Sweet, ripe fruits on the nose of melon, watermelon, and pineapple, with floral notes of roses and apple blossom. The palate doesn't quite follow up on the appealing aromas of the nose, but does have a good, refreshing acidity. Again, good value for money, without being particularly exciting. ✪✪✪

Garganega

Garganega is a quality grape often associated with simple, bland wines. Like Cortese, this is all down to yields: keep the yields low and the character of the grape really comes out with a dry mineral quality and white flowers, green apples, citrus, and apricots. It's the grape of Soave, a small hilltop village near Lake Garda in Veneto. Soave must be 70% Garganega; the other 30% of the blend can add to or detract from Garganega's qualities. Basic Soave is produced on flat vineyards, with Trebbiano di Toscano in the blend. The best Soave is produced on hillside vineyards under the Soave Classico DOCG, either 100% Garganega or with Trebbiano di Soave (which is actually Verdicchio) in the blend. It's this kind of confusion which doesn't help the Italian wine industry.

wine

Dama del Rovere Tremenalto, Soave Classico 2012 ($18.99)
There's an astonishing mineral character driving through this wine (which is 100% Garganega), with piercing acidity and a very dry finish. The fruits - green apples and peaches - hide behind that concentrated acidic dryness. There is something almost Riesling like in its mineral, petrol aromas and its long, dry, acidic finish. An intense, quality, but rather difficult wine. ✪✪✪✪✪

Ribolla Gialla

Found in north-east Italy in the Fruili-Venezia-Guilia region, wines from Ribolla Gialla were drunk by the Venetian nobility in the 1200s. It's vinified in a variety of ways, including oak ageing, skin contact, and being made into sparkling wines. Most commonly it is a light-bodied dry white wine, with high acidity, and citrus, lemon-pepper aromas. It is at its best in the hillside Colli Orientali del Fruili and Collio DOCs of Fruili, producing delicate wines in the latter and fuller bodied wines in the former.

wines

Vigneti Sant'Helena Ribolla Gialla 2011, Venezia IGP ($19.99)
Unfortunately, @kt_canfield drank this while I was away in France (for which I can't really blame her) so I didn't get a chance to try it. She has, however, repeatedly told me how good it was and provided me with her concise tasting notes: light, crisp, citrus, and orange peel.

Ermacora Ribolla Gialla 2013, Colli Orientali del Fruili ($15.99)
Well, I had to go out and buy another to try for myself. And naturally it wasn't as good: sharp, tart citrus fruits, lacking concentration of flavours or structure. The interesting thing is that the better wine (according to my wife at least) was an IGP, rather than from the more recognised DOC - the best Italian wines can often come from outside the hierarchy.

Vermentino

Also known as Favorita in Piemonte and Rolle in France, Vermentino is at its best on the island of Sardinia where proximity to the sea gives the wines a gripping, saline quality. Where it's grown and how it's made result in quite different wines: from light, young, and refreshing to heavier, weightier wines that have seen some lees or even oak ageing. Aromas can also vary from citrus to tropical fruits, but marked by floral and herbal characteristics.

wine

Vermentino Cantina di Gallura 2013, Sardinia ($17.99)
Unforunately, this wine was corked - most of the corked wines I have had recently have been Italian, which is becoming something of an issue.

Kerner

A wine from the Kerner grape was thrown into a blind tasting of Italian whites as a surprise element. Kerner is a German crossing of Trollinger (which is a black grape) and Riesling, and of all the German crossings it's the one that comes closest to Riesling in its flavours and very good acidity. In Italy's Alto-Adige, many German grapes such as Riesling, Gewürztraminer, and Müller-Thurgau are found, as the area is heavily Germanic (it's also called Südtirol). The best vineyards are 600-800m high, producing white wines and Pinot Nero with great acidity and aromatics.

wine

Kerner Cantina Valle Isarzo 2013, Alto Adige ($18.99)
Lots of ripe fruits on the nose, with pears, grapes, oranges, and peaches, and floral notes of honeysuckle and acacia, followed by a wet stone mineral texture and a spicy cinnamon finish on the palate. The alcohol was a little high (at 14%) but with quite concentrated flavours. ✪✪✪✪

Müller-Thurgau

Another German crossing that is at its best in the Alto Adige. Müller-Thurgau has a bad reputation and rightly so: in Germany, it's been valued for its high yields more than the quality of the wine it produces. In the 1970s and 80s, it was planted far more than Riesling and was responsible for bulk wines such as Blue Nun and Black Tower. It was propogated by a Dr. Müller from the Swiss canton of Thurgau in 1882; he thought he was crossing Riesling with Silvaner, but was actually crossing Riesling with a forgettable grape called Madeleine Royale. Despite its widespread planting in Germany, it's actually at its best elsewhere, particularly Alto Adige.

wine

Kettmeir Müller-Thurgau 2013, Alto Adige ($19.99)
Tasting this wine blind, I would confuse it for a Sauvignon Blanc. It has a very floral, herbaceous nose, with grass, nettles, lemon-pepper, and elderflower, with a citrus lime zest kick on the palate followed by a spicy ginger, nutmeg finish. ✪✪✪✪

Each of these wines is under $20 and of a consistently good quality, demonstrating that Italian whites represent very good value for money. None of them has seen any kind of ageing on their lees or in oak, instead allowing the character of the grape to come through. Despite the different grapes, there are similarities between all the wines which mark a kind of Italian style: high acidity, floral aromas of acacia and honeysuckle, and spicy palates of ginger and nutmeg. None of the wines stands out as outstanding - though the Soave came close - but they all show an improved consistency in the standard of Italian white wine.

Matching food and wine: cheese and meat

Wondering about the theme of food and wine matching, @winebizkid and I found ourselves at the Bakerie in Manchester, where we tested a wine against three different cheeses and three different meats.

what we drank

Lagrein Cantina Tramin 2011 (Alto Adige, £29.95). Indigenous to the Alto Adige region (a heavily Germanic area also called Südtirol), Lagrein is a grape described by Oz Clarke in Grapes and Wines as having "a flavour of sour plums...bitter cherries, some black chocolate richness and deep, dark colour, but it is not very tannic," which sums up the wine we tasted well. Despite that lack of tannins, the chocolately dark fruits and its high acidity meant that it was strong enough to stand up to the cheeses and meats, and indeed overpowered some of them.

a table of wine, cheeses, and meat, with accoutrements

 

what we ate

three meats

chorizo - hot, spicy chorizo with a wine from Teutonic Italy: there was enough depth of flavour to the wine to hold up to the powerful tastes of chorizo cooked in a wine sauce, but it needed more of the oaky tannins of a Spanish wine to soak up the juicy, spicy meat.

lamb kofta - the high acidity of the wine added a needed juiciness to this Mediterranean lamb skewer; however, the minty lamb and the wine's chocolate fruit were an interesting but not quite convincing contrast.

serrano - the beautiful, soft, gorgeous flavours of the ham were lost in the dark fruits of the wine: both fantastic food and drink, but to be tried separately. (This is where I started eulogising about sherry, and how fino would be a perfect partner to this ham.)

three cheeses

lancashire - this was my favourite of the cheeses: soft and crumbly with a dry, salty finish. The wine added acidity and fruitiness to the cheese, but the cheese's subtle finish ended up being dominated by the wine. This is a cheese that would go well with the mature, red fruit flavours of a Burgundy Pinot Noir.

halloumi - with halloumi, the cheese squeaks in the mouth, pops, and then disappears. It's great, but a unique sensation. Tasting it with the wine was something similar: an immediate satsifaction followed by confusion at the competing flavours.

smoked cheddar - such a smoky cheese can dominate a wine that lacks body or intensity, but the Lagrein perfectly complemented the cheese's smokiness with its earthy fruitiness. This was a wine and cheese match that just kept on giving, demonstrating that a food and a wine from different parts of Europe can have attributes that work very well together.

smoked cheddar and Lagrein: a perfect pairing

overall

The wine, made from the Lagrein grape, high in acidity, relatively low in tannin, went better with the cheeses than the meat, yet it was the cheese with the strongest flavour that it worked best with, and one that wasn't a regional pairing. This showed the purpose, and fun, of experimentation: finding out which foods and wines unexpectedly go together, in this case English smoked cheddar and Alto Adige Lagrein. Of course, the experiment would have been more complete if we had tried more wines, but there were only two of us...