SommSelect Editorial Director David Lynch urges you to take the time to get to know this wine from Italy’s Trentino-Alto Adige region. You’ll be so glad you did.
This wine is a brambly, bright, ultra-refreshing red wine bargain you’d likely ignore if you saw it on a store shelf, because…What the heck does that label say? Who’s got time to figure that out? Well, I do, and let me assure you that it’s well worth the effort. I’ll start simple: This is a delicious, featherweight red from the northern Italian region of Alto Adige, which was once part of the Tyrol state of Austria and is still a German-speaking area. You see both German and Italian on the label because everything in this lush, dramatic Alpine valley—nominally and administratively Italian but culturally Austrian—is printed in both languages. Before we unpack all that, though, a question: Do you like the fragrant, soft, light-bodied reds of France’s Jura? Or Austria’s Burgenland? If so, you will love this 2015 Kalterersee from Erste & Neue. Made from a local grape known as Schiava in Italian and Vernatsch/Trollinger in German, it is just a few shades darker than rosé and fits the ‘wine-as-dietary-staple’ bill perfectly. It’s a red you can drink with lunch and not need a nap afterwards—a true vin de soif (“wine for thirst”) that I can’t recommend highly enough. Anyone you pour it for will be keen to get to know it better, so consider stocking up—it's priced for acquisition in quantity.
And when that time comes, here’s the deal: “Kalterersee” is the (German) name of the wine’s geographic appellation, referring to the Lake Caldaro (Kaltern) area southeast of Alto Adige’s capital, Bolzano. This is such a unique, culturally distinct place—either the “upper” (alto) Adige River Valley or the “south” Tyrol (Südtirol), depending on one’s perspective—with vast swaths of vineyards and orchards surrounded by Alps and Dolomites on all sides. Historically, the region has been dominated by cooperative wineries, many of which date to the 19th century and are named for specific villages; these co-ops typically supervise scores of local vine-growers (often numbering in the hundreds) and have stellar reputations not just for quality but for smart, stylish marketing. These aren’t just bulk-production clearinghouses for local farmers (as some co-ops are), but world-class, acclaimed wineries. “Erste & Neue” translates as “first and new,” referring to the 1986 merger of Caldaro/Kaltern’s very first co-op (founded in 1900) with a “newer” one (1925). Erste & Neue today has about 500 growers contributing grapes from approximately 280 hectares of vineyards.
These vineyards climb from the banks of the Adige River up high into the surrounding hills, traversing a diverse array of soil types along the way. Obviously the lower-lying areas nearest the river are part of a gravelly “alluvial fan,” but as you climb towards Lake Caldaro and beyond, soils include glacial moraine, volcanic material—especially porphyritic quartz—and sediment. The vineyards around Caldaro/Kaltern, including the “Leuchtenburg” site that supplies the fruit for this wine, spill down to the lake from the slopes of the nearby Mendola massif. Erste & Neue notes that their Schiava plantings thrive in their more sedimentary soils, which include limestone gravel over volcanic bedrock.
What’s most fascinating about this wine is that it behaves like a cool-climate “mountain” red—like something you might find in the upper-most reaches of France’s Savoie—when in fact it’s more of a “valley floor” red from a nearly Mediterranean climate. Bolzano, the capital of the Alto Adige, is consistently one of Italy’s hottest regional capitals throughout the summer—it sits in a kind of basin at the confluence of two rivers—and many compare the soils and climate of the Adige Valley to that of Bordeaux. Remember: To an Austrian, this is the “warm south,” and the South Tyrol has historically produced more red wine than white, including plenty of full-bodied, Bordeaux-style blends. Wines from the Schiava grape are light and spicy more because of the physiology of the grape than its environment, and while it has historically been viewed as a ‘workhorse’ variety (schiava means “slave” in Italian), it has caught on in a big way with sommeliers who appreciate having such a distinctive style at the very lightest end of the red-wine spectrum. Locally, Schiava is more often called Vernatsch, while in Germany it is known as Trollinger (and is the fourth most-planted red grape in the country).
This berry-fruited, buoyant 2015 “Leuchtenburg” from Erste & Neue was fermented in stainless steel and aged briefly in large, old, 80- and 100-hectoliter oak casks. In the glass it is a pale ruby with pink and magenta highlights at the rim, just a shade darker than a red rose. The aromas are a woodsy mix of wild blackberries and strawberries, red currant, tomato leaf, underbrush, black pepper, baking spices and a hint of dried orange peel. It is light-bodied and juicy, with soft tannins and mild acidity, and if ever a red wine were made for a nice chill, this is it: Serve it in Burgundy stems at a refreshing 50 degrees with burgers, pizza, charcuterie, you name it…and don’t be surprised when the bottle is drained within minutes. It’s the kind of wine I imagine vineyard workers drinking in the shade during their lunch, a versatile pop-and-pour style that will be met with eager curiosity (and likely some Instagram snaps) by everyone you share it with. If I could, I’d have this stuff on tap at my house, to be deployed regularly with simple recipes like the attached. Do not miss it!
— D.L.
