Wine and architecture

With 224 members and 350 hectares of cultivation area in Gries, San Maurizio, Settequerce, S. Giorgio, Cologna, Santa Maddalena, Coste, S. Giustina, and Renon: the great strengths of the Bolzano Winery is its diversity. So in the higher locations that range up to 1,000 meters, Sauvignon Blanc and Gewürztraminer dominate, while at the medium elevations, it is Schiava. Further down, Cabernet and Merlot are planted, with Lagrein in the valley areas. The wines are made in the winery building with its futuristic appearance.

In narrowest terms, the Bolzano Winery is relatively young. It was launched in 2001 but is actually the result of a merger between the much older, established Bolzano wineries of Gries and Santa Maddalena. For that reason, tradition holds a major emphasis from the members, as does managing their often steep vineyards in a sustainable manner that is close to nature. “Working the soils and grapevines in a gentle manner is an important matter to our winegrowers,” says President Philipp Plattner.

In the meantime, the caution and prudence does not stop in the vineyard, but continues on in the winery. It is the first one in all of Italy to have been awarded the “KlimaHaus Wine” quality seal for energy efficiency and sustainability. Even in the winery, the focus is on slowing things down. That is where winemaker Stephan Filippi wields the baton and explains, “Because the processing takes place according to the principle of gravitation, the grapes are transformed in the most gentle way.” The result is unique, unmistakable quality wines. And great variety which in and of itself is worth a closer look.

Producing mineral-rich, fruity, elegant mountain wines with their own character: the credo of the Cantina Valle Isarco is as clear as it is simple. This is the youngest of Alto Adige’s cooperative wineries and, with 135 members, also the smallest, as well as the northernmost in all of Italy. And its credo is followed without compromise.

The grapes grow on steep terraces at elevations from 250 to 1,000 meters. The work in the vineyards is hard and in many cases done by hand. Specifically right here, it is necessary to work in harmony with nature, to take the infertile resources into consideration, and for that reason to produce as close to nature as possible. But in any case, it is actually the elevation that also has a series of advantages. For instance, the harvest period is relatively late in the year, which is why the grapes also take along a whole series of sunny and warm autumn days and cool nights with them into the approximately 950,000 bottles that are produced annually.

“The particular climate of the Valle Isarco, its mineral-rich soils, and the late harvest are the optimal conditions for fresh, fruity, and mineral-rich white wines,” explains Stefan Donà, who has been winemaker of the Valle Isarco Winery since 2023. The calling cards of his winery are therefore the outstanding Sylvaner, Kerner, Müller Thurgau, and Grüne Veltliner, which make up no less than 98 percent of the assortment. They score a hit with their unmistakable stylistic direction and acidity structure, and they present themselves as extremely typical of the variety. As they know all too well at the Cantina Valle Isarco, quality in fact knows no compromise.

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.

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.”

In 1907, Josef Hofstätter founded a winery in Termeno which has developed today into the largest family estate winery in all of Alto Adige. Although the designation “Alto Adige” restricts the sphere of activity of J. Hofstätter too much, since the view of the Foradori family that runs it does in fact extend beyond the provincial borders. Far beyond.

Areas of cultivation of 50 hectares in the west and the east of the Bassa Atesina, in the south of Trentino and, as the first winegrower from Italy, even to the Saarland in Germany are tended under the direction of Martin Foradori and the J. Hofstätter brand. But no matter how broad the sphere of activity is, the philosophy always remains the same: “In Alto Adige, Hofstätter has been the forerunner with the idea of location, and thus the orientation that wines should taste like the location in which the grapes mature,” Foradori explains.

Soils, climate, elevation: all of these should be reflected by the wines of J. Hofstätter. “Seven of our wines carry the Vigna designation of origin, a rating that is comparable to the French ‘Grand Cru,’” says Foradori, who traces the idea of location back to a simple piece of wisdom: “When the grape variety and the location interact, a unique wine comes into existence.”

Added to that is a gentle working of the vineyards, which has a long traditions at J. Hofstätter: “Early on, we made use of a gentle kind of vine pruning, minimized the interventions, and let healthy, strong grapevines grow,” the winegrower explains. And there is also an obligation with the selection of varieties. They focus on local grapes: Pinot Blanc, Lagrein, Schiava, Gewürztraminer, and Pinot Noir.

Creating long-lasting, multilayered wines with character: that is the goal that is pursued in the Cantina Terlano. Its roots as a cooperative winery date back to 1893. Tradition therefore plays just as central of a role in the grape and wine production as new knowledge and modern technology do.

Some 143 members belong to the Terlano cooperative winery today. They tend no fewer than 190 hectares of vineyards that profit from a very particular soil. “The Petersbach stream created a mud and scree cone in Terlano which distinguishes itself by a high coarse portion of stones and sand and which therefore warms up very easily,” explains winemaker Rudi Kofler.

As head oenologist at the Cantina Terlano, he is responsible for the total number of 1.5 million bottles per year, all of which carry the DOC designation. “White wines represent 70 percent of our production, so the reds don’t even make up a third,” Kofler says. In the white assortment, the Cantina Terlano has above all else Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Grigio, while the reds consist of Lagrein, Pinot Noir, and Merlot.

In order for the white and red wines to be able to mature into long-lasting, multilayered wines with character, which winemaker Kofler has set for himself as a goal, technological upgrades have been enlisted in recent years. Thus the storeroom at the Cantina Terlano has been expanded over time to 18,000 cubic meters. Because great wines need both time and space.

With 50 hectares of grape growing areas, the Manincor Estate Winery in Caldaro is one of the largest in all of Alto Adige. And also one with some of the richest traditions: grapes have been grown here for more than four hundred years, a tradition which Count Michael Goëss-Enzenberg continues – along new paths that are actuality old.

Count Goëss-Enzenberg, who is himself a trained oenologist, has focused on biodynamic cultivation in his estate winery since 2005, and that means: the revitalization of the soil with compost, special sowing of greenery, allowing chickens, sheep, and bees in the vineyard, and last but not least creating herbal teas with which the grapevines are treated. Chamomile helps the plants to overcome situations of stress, stinging nettle tea gives them energy, and horsetail herb supports the healing of injuries.

But as old as the knowledge about cultivation is at the Manincor Estate Winery in Kaltern, that’s how modern the winery is, which was built underground three stories below the vineyards. In the end, the grapes from a half million vines are brought together here, and a total of fifteen different grape varieties are made into wine here. But in spite of the size, the work in the winery is still always work by hand – with a particular attention to small scale: “Also trying and doing our best possible work even down to the smallest detail is our path to the highest natural quality,” says Count Goëss-Enzenberg. Because, “For me, wine is the greatest sensory expression of agricultural culture.”

And at the Manincor Estate Winery in Caldaro, they know their way around with focus on the senses, with passion, with authenticity, and with heart. For more than four hundred years. After all, a free translation of Manincor is “hand on heart. ”

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.

A tradition that goes back to 1764, when the Campi estate was built on the site of our current winery. Nals Winery was founded in 1932 and with the merge of Margreid Winery in 1985, Nals Margreid was established. The vineyards are distributed throughout 14 areas with a total of 160 hectares cultivated by 138 wine-growing families between Nalles in the Adige Valley and Magré in the southern part of Alto Adige. Because of this, the Nals Margreid Winery draws from the unique potential of the entire region along the right bank of the Adige. In this very particular strip of land, at elevations between 200 and 900 meters, the grapes mature with multilayered terroirs, each having its own soil composition, microclimate, and sunshine.

The protective arc of the Alps to the north, the Mediterranean influences from the south, the 1,800 hours of sunshine each year, and temperature differentials between day and night of up to 20° C allow the grapes to thrive with unique characters that reflect their terroirs in the flavor spectrum of Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir: from Alpine-fresh to fruity-elegant. The demand for quality and uniqueness is also expressed in the architecture of the winery building at the Nals Margreid Winery. Reddish-brown exposed concrete walls rise up nine meters into the sky. In between is the barrique cellar with the small oak casks, spanned by a colossal, asymmetrically folded roof.

With the careful restoration of the old manor into the headquarters and the “1764” wine bar, the synthesis of the historical buildings with the international prizewinning contemporary architecture has achieved perfection. This is where the wines of the Nals Margreid Winery can be experienced with professional sommelier advice at various levels. These include, for example, Sirmian, which was crowned as the Best White Wine in All of Italy by the renowned Italian wine guide Vini d’Italia from Gambero Rosso.

Founded in 1960, the Colterenzio winery is one of the youngest winegrowers’ cooperative in Alto Adige. In 1960, 26 winegrowers founded their own winery to be more independent – and named it after the hamlet they came from: Schreckbichl in German, Colterenzio in Italian. These winegrowers can be considered rebels but at the same time pioneers for right after the foundation of their own winery they were setting the course towards quality.

Today, 300 winegrowers together with the people working at Colterenzio continued this path.

The winegrowers grow their grapes on a total of 300 hectares; the vineyards are located in one of the best wine growing areas of Alto Adige, on altitudes from 230 to 650 meters. 14 different varieties are cultivated. 35% of the wines at Colterenzio are red, 65% are white. The Colterenzio winery cares about the environment, not only in the vineyards, but also in the cellar. In the vineyard this means sustainable viticulture and handpicked grapes. In the winery itself most of the electric energy used in the winery is supplied by a photovoltaic installation, 100% of the electric power is certified green and 70% of hot water requirements is provided by solar panels and a heat recovery system.

Sometimes it’s best to let figures speak for themselves. With the Cornaiano Winery, for instance, which was founded in 1923 as a cooperative, today two hundred winegrowing families cultivate 230 hectares of grape growing area and concentrate on five varieties. Figures that are impressive but do not tell the whole story.
They don’t say everything, for example, about the Oltradige and Bassa Atesina, those zones in which the vineyards of the Cornaiano Cooperative Winery are located. Protected to the north and open to the south, a mild climate dominates here. “The high temperature differentials between day and night, above all else in the autumn, lend the wines a fine, prominent aroma and the capability to last long,” explains winemaker Gerhard Kofler. Infertile gravel as well as loamy soils and vineyards with a good airflow make their contribution.

“Starting out from these characteristics of our area of cultivation, our focus is on five leading varieties,” says Kofler: with the white wines, these are Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay, and with the reds Schiava and Pinot Noir. It is above all the latter which has bestowed great international attention upon the Cornaiano Winery, winning praise year after year from leading wine critics.

This recognition, along with the mineral-rich freshness, fruity structure, and prominent authenticity have led to the wines of the Cornaiano Winery having acquired a worldwide market, being sold in no fewer than thirty countries in the world. What are esteemed are wines with character or, as Kofler puts it, down-to-earth top wines.

On the sunny slopes above the Valle Isarco in Velturno is found the Garlider Estate Winery. Christian Kerschbaumer follows a very particular philosophy here having to do with maintaining the characteristics of the grapevine and soil in the wine. Organic cultivation is one puzzle piece of this philosophy.

But sustainability is not the only topic which, in the eyes of Kerschbaumer, speaks for organic growing. The effects upon the wine are also smaller with this type of cultivation than with the conventional. In the winery, the Valle Isarco winegrower also uses primarily indigenous yeasts – another tile in the mosaic of an unadulterated wine.

And incidentally, “wine” at the Garlider Estate Winery stands for white wine. First and foremost, but not exclusively. On a small plot, the only Pinot Noir in the Isarco Valley is grown, with the large remainder of the vineyards bringing forth five white varieties. “In the Valle Isarco, the white wines find hard but very good conditions that substantially shape their character,” Kerschbaumer says with conviction.

These conditions include warm days, fresh, cool nights, good aeration, and soils that consist of a mixture of quartz phyllite. “All of this together gives the whites their fruity, subtle aromas, sleek elegance, and individual, dry tanginess,” explains the head of the Garlider Estate Winery in Velturno.

So it is no wonder that the Garlider wines are making headlines. For English wine critic Stuart Pigott, Kerschbaumer is one of the ascending stars in the Valle Isarco. He writes, “Above all, his white wines are in a special class.”

Up until 1932, there were no fewer than five wineries in the winegrowing village of Caldaro. United under the umbrella of the Cantina Kaltern since 2016, the 590 members of the cooperative tend grape growing areas of 440 hectares and now produce around 4 million bottles of wine per year.

“Our cooperative is one big family,” emphasizes Christian Sinn, general manager of the Cantina Kaltern. “It holds together the many small family winegrower structures, guarantees quality and safety, and gives its members the opportunity of participating in something great.” Bringing forth this “greatness” is a complex undertaking. It is necessary to coordinate all of the members from the pruning of the vines to education and training and to commit them to the winery’s quality policy. That, in turn, includes having to establish and inspect the yield goals for around two thousand plots.

All of that in order to create the best conditions for the best wines. Within that context, the production supports above all else five leading varieties. These are – hardly astonishing – Schiava in the form of Lago di Caldaro, Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Yellow Muscat for the noble sweet Passito.

But it doesn’t matter which wines are being made or which grape varieties are being grown. For the Cantina Kaltern, the uppermost maxim that is followed both in the vineyard and the winery is sustainability. Thus the winery is the first wine producer in Italy and the first cooperative anywhere to be awarded with the Certification of Sustainability by FAIR ‘N GREEN. And with around 15 hectares that are managed biodynamically, the Cantina Kaltern has also taken on the role of forerunner in this area among cooperative wineries.

Step by step to their own wine: at the Kobler winegrowing estate in Magré, it has been shown how an estate winery can grow with a great deal of patience, lots of diligence, and the necessary consistency. The step toward making their own wine, which the Koblers took in 2006, was only a logical one. And certainly not the final one.

It was Erich Kobler who, in the 1950s, laid the foundation for the Kobler winegrowing estate in Magré. In 1958, he planted the first vineyard, half of which was Chardonnay. In 1972, a second location was added that he filled with Pinot Grigio, Merlot, and Carménère, and a third with Merlot came in 1993. In the 2000s, the assortment of grape varieties was expanded by Cabernet Franc and Gewürztraminer.

A decisive step for the Kobler winegrowing estate in Magré followed in the mid-2000s. “With the 2006 harvest, my wife Monika and I began to make wine ourselves from some of our grapes,” recounts Armin Kobler, son of the operation’s founder. Thus the grapes from two hectares of the estate’s own grape growing areas are made into wine in-house. “We reach a production of an average of 15,000 bottles of DOC wines per year,” Kobler says. The remainder of the harvest goes to the Cantina Kurtatsch.
Even if the production is currently still manageable, the goal of the Koblers continuing with their own wines is clear. “We want to make wines,” Kobler explains, “which reflect as much as possible the character of the location, the variety, and the vintage.”

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.

One special feature of the Merano Winery with its 360 members catches the eye immediately: two completely different cultivation zones. They are on one hand the mild, Mediterranean Merano valley basin and, on the other hand, the dry, windy, climatically extreme Val Venosta. No fewer than twenty grape varieties grow here upon which the offering from the Merano Winery is based.

The winery itself came into existence in July 2010, and specifically from the merger of the Burggräfler Winery that was founded in 1901 with the Meran Winery that was initiated in 1952. Its headquarters is in a striking building that combines the new with the old in Marlengo in which the threads of 360 members, 250 hectares of cultivated area, over twenty grape varieties, and two completely different cultivation zones are all woven together. “The offering of many different wines is a special feature and strength of the Merano Winery,” explains winemaker Stefan Kapfinger, “but it is also associated with a higher expenditure of labor.” That begins in the vineyards, on slopes a large portion of which are steep, in which nearly all of the work is done by hand, but in any case in a sustainable manner that protects resources.

“In the winery, it is necessary to preserve the quality of the grapes that come from our vineyards,” says Kapfinger. With his wines, the origin of each of them ought to be recognizable as clearly as possible in the aroma. For that reason, the winemaker understands himself as a “midwife”: “The wine ought to go its own way,” he says, “I just accompany it on its journey. With a great deal of patience and sometimes also strong nerves.”

The Winery Cantina Merano in Marlengo and Merano: From now on, the winery has two locations that are both the perfect place for getting together and having a great time: the Panoramic Enoteca in Marling and the new City.Vinothek in the center of Meran. Enjoy the exciting wine collection, a special selection of distillates and a brisk masterpiece among the Alto Adige DOC sparkling wines, treat yourself to some unforgettable new impressions and join a tour of the winery for a behind-the-scenes look into all the finer things in life that Meran has to offer.

A winery has existed in Novacella since 1142, and thus the monastery winery is one of the oldest active wineries in the world. In addition, it is one of the most important in the Valle Isarco and the representative of an outstanding white wine area.

Within that context, the assortment on offer by the monastery winery is in fact primarily white but not exclusively so.

“Some 70 percent of our production is white wines: Sylvaner, Müller Thurgau, Kerner, and Riesling that grow from the Bressanone valley basin up to 900 meters,” says winemaker Celestino Lucin. The care and prudence that he practices hold true not just in the winery, but through a large number of additional circles. Thus the winegrowers work their vineyards in a sustainable manner, and the entire winery works in a CO2-neutral way.

Even if the Novacella Monastery Winery is renowned above all else for its white wines, the red varieties do indeed also play a role. They make up 30 percent of the production, whereby the grapes do indeed grow in vineyards belonging to the monastery, but not in and around Bressanone. “The climate would be too harsh for them,” Lucin is convinced. His Schiava, Pinot Noir, and Red Muscat thus have their origins in Bolzano and Cornaiano.

But it doesn’t matter whether it is red or white: the calling card of the monastery winery has been and remains the Praepositus line. And because that is the case, it is at the same time also an homage to the leader. Praepositus is the Latin word for the provost, and thus the abbot of the monastery.