Browse Tag

alto adige

Massacre

St. Michael-Eppan “Sanct Valentin” 2006 Sauvignon (Alto Adige) – Extremely intense, as is the Sanct Valentin style, but that intensity is expressed internally rather than some big, showy explosion of gobs and lavishness. Greenish-white fruit, white-hot and studded with shattered glass, quivering with barely-restrained power but never losing its grip on the foundation. Impressive. (7/10)

Donà donà donà, donà

Hartmann Donà 2004 Mitterberg Rot (Alto Adige) – More skin than flesh, more tissue than muscle, more chill than warmth. Iced berries and gritty minerality. Not generous, and while that’s not usually a flaw for my palate, I really can’t get into this wine, which turns both a shoulder and a sneer. I feel like I should like it, because it’s got things I usually like, but I don’t. (5/10)

Haberle a merry little Christmas

Lageder 2006 Pinot Bianco Haberlehof (Alto Adige) – I don’t know if this is mature, because this is as long as I’ve ever let a bottle of it age, but this is certainly rounding into something more interesting than its fallow infancy. Fruits have yellowed (but the pinks and greens remain), minerality has helixed with texture to provide something sinuous in the background, and there’s a slowly-enveloping sense of roundness. Quite impressive. (5/10)

Lageder leave it

[vineyard]Lageder 2007 Moscato Giallo Vogelmaier (Alto Adige) – Nectarines infused with the usual wild muscat perfume. The fruit helps reign the aromatics into something better-suited for genteel company, and there’s an appealing rock salt counterpoint as well. The only drawback is that, as with most muscats, the wine tends to dominate almost any food with which it’s served, so it’s probably best-suited as an apéritif. (8/09)

Rip Van

[vineyard]Terlan 2004 Sauvignon Blanc Winkl (Alto Adige) – What one wants from these Alto Adige wines, especially the site-designated ones, is minerality coequal or superior to varietal character. That said, some varieties just can’t be conquered, and sauvignon blanc is one. Still, I’d call this a success, with quartz and icy steel backing up a shattered-glass impression of chilly greenish-white fruit. A little white pepper’s there, too, on a finish that doesn’t quite live up to the rest of the wine. (7/09)

Pots & Eppans

[vineyard]St. Michael-Eppan 2006 Pinot Noir (Alto Adige) – Plummy fruit to which has been applied a wrench, slightly distorting it. Some beet, some earth, some cherry, but a weird structure, as if it’s repeating throwing itself against some unseen barrier. (6/09)

From sea to shining Kalterersee

Lageder 2007 Kalterersee Classico Römigberg (Alto Adige) – Heat-damaged, and the culprit is likely the perpetually overheated store from which it was purchased: The Spirited Gourmet in Belmont, MA. (10/08)

Fiddling

[vineyard]St. Michael-Eppan 2004 Pinot Nero “Riserva” (Alto Adige) – Mushrooms growing alongside the barn…the animalistic side of this wine is very much on the edge of acceptability, and the averse should take note…with a dark, post-coital midnight sweat over blackened berries. There’s plenty of lightening structure, but the wine is a blackheart, and won’t yield anything refreshing. Still, given the right food, this could be just the thing. I don’t think age will help, as I think the flaws will grow more pronounced. (10/08)

Muri Andropov

[lagrein]Muri-Gries 2007 Lagrein Rosato (Alto Adige) – Strawberry and raspberry rendered in neon. More candied than I’d like, but it’s a Japanese candy…one of those things with lemongrass and shrimp that sorta redefines what one thinks of as candy. It’s initially offputting, but eventually wins my intellectual side over with a lot of striking complexity. My emotional side remains suspicious of its Technicolor, though. (8/08)

Turn the kerner

Köfererhof 2006 Valle Isarco Kerner (Alto Adige) – Crescendos from general inoffensiveness to a fairly round, polished sphere of sandy minerality, then fades again. Deftly made, but there’s just not all that much here, and for the price it’s a little insufficient. (6/08)