Go to the Niklas website and the first language is German: The Alto Adige, a.k.a. Südtirol, was once part of Austria, so most of the wines of this region have a kind of dual citizenship. Dieter Sölva is the proprietor at this small family winery and agriturismo, which is named for its home village of St. Nikolaus, in the Kaltern/Caldaro district southwest of Bolzano.

The Alto Adige (the “upper” part of the Adige River Valley) is a diverse terroir: The gravelly valley floor has historically been favored for red grapes, and while the Adige does indeed snake through the Dolomites, the region gets quite warm during the growing season, thanks to currents off Lake Garda. At higher elevations, soils become rockier, with mineral elements like feldspar, quartz and porphyry. The vineyard sources for this wine sit at 500-600 meters of elevation, with vines trained in the traditional pergola method to maximize sun exposure, are rooted in soils of pebbly limestone. Cool nighttime temperatures help lengthen the growing season to preserve acidity in a wine that is subjected to a brief maceration on skins before fermentation and aging in stainless steel.

This ’22 is racy and assertively aromatic, falling somewhere between Sancerre and New Zealand in style. The acidity is citrusy and lively, and yet there is some lushness to the texture on the mid-palate, along with the slightest kiss of residual sugar. Aromas and flavors of white grapefruit, elderberry, green pepper, gooseberry, mountain wildflowers, and wet stones extend through the long finish.