The story of Elda and Heinrich Mayr and their tiny vineyard in the Italian Tyrol is one of my favorites in all of wine. The family’s reds are deeply treasured heirlooms within the world’s insider Italian sommelier culture.
This is not because they originate from a famous village, but rather because this property ties together everything wine professionals respect most —history, adversity, organic farming, and most importantly, a truly exceptional wine. If you’ve never tasted the Nusserhof wines, I implore you to seize this opportunity. A microscopic allocation of the Mayr family’s wines come to the West Coast each year before promptly vanishing into restaurant cellars and collectors’ glasses. So, I’m ecstatic to have enough of today’s shockingly complex Teroldego to share with our subscribership today. This is an extraordinary wine and I don’t expect to have any left in the warehouse tomorrow!
Bolzano is a mid-sized industrial city that sits in a narrow valley in the Dolomites, 45 minutes south of the Austrian border in Italy’s Alto Adige region. This is Deutsch-speaking, lederhosen-wearing Italy, and the local culture and snow-capped geography feels far more like Austria than it does Italy. Bolzano (Bozen to locals) is a mix of shipping warehouses, Cold War-era municipal structures, and multi-story housing projects. Upon exiting the city’s utilitarian train station and making your way past numerous warehouses en route to Heinrich and Elda Mayr’s front door, you wouldn’t be faulted for doubting your proximity to a famous vineyard. But suddenly you round a corner and before you lies a breathtaking and verdant biodynamic farm with ancient stone walls, chirping birds, wildflowers, and rows of vines and fruit trees. This is Heinrich and Elda’s farm and walking through their front door is not unlike stepping through a portal into the past. Nearly everything remains as it was 400 years ago, when Heinrich’s ancestors began farming here. Today, as tall buildings, the Autostrada, and a high-speed rail line (separated by a river on the vineyard's eastern border) creep up on it, this tiny and sacred 2.4-hectare parcel of land stands locked in time and remains carefully looked after by the local citizenry.
It’s not a coincidence that this property is fiercely protected. One of Heinrich Mayr's ancestors who worked the land nearly a century ago was a conscientious objector in WWII and a vocal opponent of Nazi and Fascist regimes. He used the property’s small cellar as a safe haven for those escaping the treachery to the north and was eventually caught and imprisoned in a concentration camp where he died as a Catholic martyr. So today, as the city of Bolzano rises and the modern world creeps in around it, Heinrich and Elda’s farm remains untouched as a landmark and reminder of the past. It’s fascinating to stand on the property and imagine how 400 years ago it was surrounded by vineyards and farms—but today, it is the only one left.
All farming on Heinrich and Elda’s property is organic (certified by Bioland). The family farms vegetables, fruit trees, and a few different local grape varieties: Teroldego (which is more readily associated with Trentino to the south); Blaterle; Schiava; and Lagrein. All fruit is harvested by hand, fermented in small steel tanks, and ultimately aged in tiny 250-liter neutral oak barrels before bottling. This is one of the smallest commercial cellars in the region, and the family makes a minuscule amount of wine. You simply do not see the wines on retail shelves or wine lists in Europe. Even in the US, they are extremely rare and allocated seasonal treats that arrive and disappear in an instant.
If you’re wondering about the label, meanwhile, this is a quirk seen across a number of Nusserhof bottlings, and relates to the legal regulations of the Alto Adige/Südtirol DOC (denomination of origin). Teroldego, which the Mayrs used to list as “Tyroldego” on labels, is not one of the “authorized” grapes allowed to be listed on labels carrying the DOC designation. This wine, which is sourced from a mere 10 rows of 30-year-old Teroldego vines, is thus labeled as a table wine, with the “Ty…….” there as an (a) indicator of what you’re getting and (b) a cheeky nod to the regional wine authorities.
The 2013 Nusserhof Teroldego is a spellbinding and shape-shifting aromatic tour de force. One minute it telegraphs powerful, olive and espresso-scented Côte-Rôtie—which isn’t so hard to believe, given that genetic research has shown Teroldego to be a cousin of Syrah. But turn your attention away for one moment and the next time your raise your glass, it’s morphed into a floral alpine beauty. The longer you expose it to air, the more elegant and integrated it becomes—but it never stops evolving. Even after three days, you can rely on this bottle to continuously change while providing endless pleasure. It’s thoroughly exciting and complex bottle of wine. Please decant this Teroldego for 45 minutes before serving at 60 degrees in large Burgundy stems. This an immensely cerebral and layered wine so I think a comforting, stick-to-the-ribs dish is a smart counterpoint. Specifically, today’s bottle and this recipe present a perfect opportunity to seize upon a handful of perfect Spring peas and some slices of the region’s famously decadent ham, speck. I’m sure you’ll love this wine—and while you’re at it, let’s toast the fascinating history of the Mayr family!
