Warning: There’s a lot of bias in this offer. I love this grape variety—Vernatsch (a.k.a. Schiava)—and I love this place—Italy’s mountainous Südtirol region. Südtirol Vernatsch, or Alto Adige Schiava, is a light-bodied red wine that has captured the imagination of wine lovers much like the featherweight champs of France’s Jura, Trousseau, and Poulsard. These are aromatic, softly contoured, quenching red wines that take beautifully to a chill and sit at the opposite pole from most of the red wines that snag the gaudy scores from critics—namely, the biggest, oakiest reds. 

Weingut Ebner, like most of its peers in this bucolic part of the world, is a lot more than just a winery: It’s a full-immersion wine experience, with a tidy little wine tavern on site along with a chalet-style inn, everything perched at 500 meters above the Isarco (Eisack) River northeast of Bolzano. We talk more about the assorted white wines of the Alto Adige (especially Pinot Grigio), but in fact it’s the red Vernatsch that has historically been the local staple. Not only does a crisp glass of Vernatsch make the perfect post-hike/post-ski/post-work accompaniment to a plate of cheeses and cold cuts, but it also speaks to its place of origin so viscerally: airy, bright, floral, mineral…the kind of willowy, high-toned red you’d expect from high-elevation vineyards in the shadow of the Italian Dolomites. You’d think you’d be missing something by drinking a light, unoaked red with a hue just a shade darker than rosé, but you’re not: Complexity, persistence, and refreshment rarely coexist, but they do here, and at a bargain price. Yes, I’m biased, but I’m also right! 

When the Südtirol (“south Tyrol”) was part of Austria, it was considered part of the “warm” south and therefore better suited to red wine production. The capital city, Bolzano, which sits in a basin at the confluence of the Isarco and Adige Rivers, gets very hot throughout the summer growing season, and daily warm air currents rush up through the Adige Valley from Lake Garda to the south (a phenomenon known as the Ora del Garda). Vernatsch remains the most-planted red variety in the Alto Adige. Its Italian name, Schiava, translates as “slave,” apparently referring to the grape’s workhorse reputation, and while it has never relinquished supremacy in terms of total plantings, it’s been losing the red wine popularity contest in the region up until very recently. A generation ago, the most high-profile reds coming out of the Alto Adige were Bordeaux-style blends from the Cabernets and Merlot, and there are quite a few high-profile Pinot Noirs out there, too. Schiava/Vernatsch has been playing catch-up, but once it draws you in it takes hold of you and won’t let go. It has become a runaway hit with sommeliers who appreciate having such a distinctive style at the lighter end of the red wine spectrum.

Brigitte and Florian Unterthiner are the third-generation proprietors of Weingut Ebner, which sits on a high plateau in a little hamlet called Campodazzo, part of the municipality of Renon (or Ritten—everything here has an Italian and German version). The five hectares of vineyards, most of which are trained high on traditional pergolas (allowing for maximum sun exposure on these steep slopes), are toward the southern end of the Isarco/Eisack Valley, not far from the regional capital, Bolzano. The soils are a mineral-rich mix of volcanic material and sandy clay, with strands of quartz-like porphyry found throughout the region. Whereas this valley may have been considered “southern” by Austrian standards, it’s one of Italy’s northern-most wine-growing zones, with vineyard altitudes climbing past 800 meters in some spots.

When he’s not in the vineyards, Florian Unterthiner will likely be found in the kitchen of the family tavern, cooking dinner. And one of the many charms of this Vernatsch is its nearly unrivaled versatility at the table—modest alcohol, bright acid, lots of savor…it’s purpose-built for bridging the meat/fish divide. Aged only in stainless steel, it displays a pale garnet-red core moving to pink/orange at the rim, with perfumed aromas of wild strawberry, ruby-red grapefruit, dried rose petals, coriander, tomato leaf, white pepper, underbrush. Serve it in Burgundy stems at 55 degrees (no decanting needed) and watch everyone’s face light up when they take their first sip. Whenever I think of the Alto Adige, the first dish that comes to mind is canederli—bread dumplings studded with speck (Tyrolean smoked bacon) and served either in broth or a simple butter sauce. Tackle the attached recipe with a few bottles of this wine and you have officially taken your Italian wine game to the next level. Enjoy!