“You don’t have to be knowledgeable about wine to try something different. Sometimes it is refreshing to step outside your comfort zone and try new things.”-JvB
There are several grapes grown in the seven regions that make up the Italian Alps’ winemaking area known as Alto Adige. Gewürztraminer is said to have originated here (from the town Tramin). Pinot blanc, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot grigio, and riesling are grown and bottled in this region as well. Some lesser known white wine grapes grown in this region include: sylvaner, veltliner, kerner, müller-thurgau, and moscato giallo. Most of these are known as aromatic, dry, refined whites with excellent minerality from the local terroir.
The red wines from the Alto Adige region include well known varietals such as merlot, pinot noir, and cabernet are grown in this region between the Alps and the Mediterranean sea. But the lesser-known local varietals are very interesting, and include schiava, moscata rosa, and lagrein (pronounced “lǝ -grān” or “lǝ-grīn”).
Lagrein is one of the leading red varietals of the region. If you don’t know the grape, you’re not alone. But that’s no reason not to try it!
A quick aside: You don’t have to be knowledgeable about wine to try something different. Sometimes it is refreshing to step outside your comfort zone and try new things. I would normally never seek out grape varietals that I don’t know for large dinner parties, but I took a chance while in Italy. Not knowing the Sudtirol region well, during our stay in Merano I asked the sommelier to suggest local wines that would pair well with our meal choices. One evening he brought forward a lagrein to suggest. My initial impression of the wine was not great, but it improved immediately with more air, paired beautifully with the northern Italian cuisine we were enjoying, and was an obvious excellent choice- a lesson I’ve never forgotten!
The character of the lagrein grape falls between a young pinot noir, syrah, and grenache. The colors of a typical wine will range from ruby red to deep violet and purple; the nose can be fruit, perfume, and spice; and the blackberry/blueberry fruit is sometimes followed with spices and pepper. Often the initial mouthfeel is then matched or dominated by strong acidity and powerful tannins with a medium to long, grippy finish.
Overall, it’s important to note that the lagrein grape has never been intended to be consumed on its own. With a naturally high acidity and tannin, this is a wine made for food. In general, due to higher expenses in both manufacturing and export, Alto Adige wines will cost from $16-45 in general. I doubt you’ll find these on the shelf in the average wine shop; I only found between one and five wines at the three top sellers I use in New York while I found no lagrein wines at smaller wine shops. But I do suggest that some time, you give a lagrein a try. You might be impressed!
When I recently had an opportunity to attend the Alto Adige 2013 Grand Tasting Tour, (with over 20 wineries participating) I remembered my experience with the lagrein varietal and made it a point to pay attention to the lagrein wines at the event.
In addition to tasting with the winemakers, I also took notes on several lagrein wines during a direct comparison tasting. Please understand that these notes are taken in haste; at these tastings, there is no real opportunity to linger and ponder the wine or taste it several times, with different pairings or over multiple days, hence some brevity in description. A star in front of the name shows it is recommended. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price is listed after each wine for your reference.
*Bolzano Lagrein Riserva “Prestige” 2010, $42
Has a nice balance and depth. Ruby-purple color with cherry vanilla nose. Strong blackberry and cherry again on the palate with a fleshy finish.
*Castell Sellegg, Lagrein 2011, $35
My favorite from this group tasting. Violet in color, perfume nose with great forward fruit, strong acidity and tannin. An excellent representation and a well made wine. Highly recommended.
Franz Haas Lagrein 2010, $36
My least favorite of the group with almost no bouquet and a weak flavor in comparison to the other lagreins. Could pair nicely with gentle cheeses, salad, light appetizers. Has a wonderful, eye-catching label, but very pricey in my opinion for the mild nose and flavor.
St. Pauls Lagrein 2011, $18
Nice purple color, sharp fruit nose. Very hot on the palate (13.5% alcohol) with bitter finish. Would be best served slightly chilled. Acids and tannin overpower the fruit, but shows better with food.
Tenuta Lensch Lagrein 2009, $20
An interesting wine that showed quite differently than the other lagreins in its initial harshness. Perhaps significant air would make a difference, I found this wine a challenge to appreciate.
*Elena Walch Lagrein Riserva Castel Ringberg 2008
This was the first lagrein that demonstrated a clear and significant step up in quality from the first tier of lagrein wines I tasted. Aged in large oak barrel, there is a gentle wood underneath. Still quite tart, and tannic, this wine has good fruit, body, and structure that show depth and complexity when paired.
à votre santé!
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Tags: Aldo Aldige, Bottle Talk, Featured, Italian Red Wine, lagrein, Sudtirol, Wine Commentary
Why Wines Deserve a Second Chance: #MWWC22
19 JanYesterday was a day I planned for months and worried about for weeks in advance. It was a wine tasting of a group of wines outside my normal scope of expertise. Traditionally when I host a tasting, I do ONE thing specifically: I serve wines I know personally, whose vines and trellises I have paced aside, whose barrels I have touched, whose flavors and colors I know intimately.
This was not one of those times.
Sure, on my ten wine list I hand-picked a few bottles that had been waiting in the cellar for just such a day. But by in large, I researched and shopped regions I didn’t know as well, and looked more closely at wines that often get a bad rap. For examples, the wines we scoot past quickly in a restaurant list when we see them. Such as: Italian white wines, and chianti.
“Why?” you cry out, outraged and distressed, “What have Chianti and Italian white wines done to you?”
Nothing.
That’s exactly it, they did nothing for me, and nothing TO me.
And it’s my own fault.
Because we first taste these wines in a family-style Italian restaurant where cheap wines are served by the gallon. We learn, early in age, to be dismissive of cheap pinot grigio and cheap chianti. As a result, later on in our lives, we don’t even bother look for quality versions of these same things. It’s as silly as hating cars as an adult, just because your first teenage car was a cheap junker that smoked from the exhaust, had bald tires, and barely got you where you needed to go. It’s not the fault of the vehicle, to be honest.
It’s time to give these wines a second chance.
For white wines, I turned to Friuli-Venizia Guilia.
I served these four white wines, in order:
–Venica 2013 Malvasia from Collio,
–Borgio Del Tiglio 2011 white blend from Collio,
–I Clivi 2014 Verduzzo from Collio Orientali del Friuli DOC, and
–I Clivi 2001 Galea from Collio Orientali del Friuli DOC.
These four wines changed all our preconceived notions of Italian white wines. Crafted with obvious expertise, love and care, these wines displayed depth, complexity, minerality, and body. They told stories. They enticed our palates, and they left us wanting more.
The 2001 Galea showed its age, grace, and deep color beautifully, on par with some of my revered and aged Bordeaux or Burgundian wines. The color alone was stunning; photos just don’t do it justice.
I found it funny: one of my guests (almost as a rule) dismisses white wines. He was not as quiet as I expected during these first four bottles, and eventually, I learned he was impressed and enjoying himself! And he made a point to speak up and admit both of these points to the group.
And we moved on to the red wines, and we laughed, and we loosened up. And at the 9th bottle, I poured a chianti.
But not just any chianti.
Thought a relatively young wine, I served a Chianti Classico Gran Reserva Selezione, a DOCG wine with the tell-tale black rooster on the bottle. I said little about the wine, and I said nothing about the Rooster.
My guests said it all for me. They told me this wine was stunning, eye-opening, not what they expected from a chianti. They shared pairing notes, talked about the color, the nuances they found.
Even after I served the 2000 Brunello Di Montalcino, we ooh’d and ahh’d about it and thoroughly enjoyed it… but eventually we went back to discussing the chianti.
And I thought that maybe it was really us who needed the second chance.
à votre santé!
Submitted to the Monthly Wine Writing Challenge #22
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Tags: #MWWC, #MWWC22, Italian Red Wine, Italian White Wine, Italian Wine tasting, White wine review, Wine Commentary, Wine Tastings