Trentino & Alto Adige
Kastelbell Val Venosta
"Good things come to those who wait" or "Chinese water torture can be very effective". I am not sure which aphorism fits best, but after asking each year for 20+ years, we will finally see some wine from Castel Juval in the market. There are places around the world with steep vineyards, but if any place can be truly described as "Heroic Viticulture", this is it. The altitude is 650 to 800 M asl in these vineyards, but it is the steep cliffs that drop off to the sides for a few hundred meters that really make you sweat. But frighteningly steep slopes don't make great wine, it is the special soils and exposures, coupled with careful, low intervention, inspired winemaking that results in these precise, detailed, ethereal wines. With the amounts available we will never really make money with these wines, but sometimes that just doesn't matter, they're just too good.
San Michele All’Adige
Over five generations since 1885, the Endrizzi family has been making wine in Trentino. A medium sized producer for the area with very strong markets in Europe and locally, they are not well known here. While all of the wines are very good, they truly excell with the Metodo Classico sparkling wines. They are some of the very best "bollicine' I've tasted from Italy and the main reason for our collabortaion. One of the still white wines was simply too good not to bring in, namely the Masetto Bianco. Its a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco, Riesling and Sauvignon.
Tramin
The Wilhelm Walch winery lies in the traditional wine village of Tramin in Alto Adige, the northernmost Italian wine-producing region. Since its founding in 1869, it has remained in the hands of the founders, the Walchs, who have decisively influenced the development of Alto Adige wine culture.
The wine estate puts emphasis on the typicity of Alto Adige and its local wine varieties – classic wines in a modern and straightforward style – while rounding out the broad palette of wines with international varieties. The quality of the wines are a testament to professional expertise in the cellar and meticulous work in the steep vineyards at the feet of the Dolomites.