Alto Adige or Sudterrol (to the local Tyrolleans) is a piece of Austria in northern Italy complete with alpine landscapes and crisp white wines such as the Gewürztraminer. This was the second last stop in our April wine tour of Italy. Our trip had taken us from the well known Tuscan wines to the heel of Italy on Mt. Etna and refined Amarones around Verona, but this is an area with its own lingo and culture.
We drove to St. Paul’s winery in the Alto Adige from Verona, around an easy one and a half hour drive north on the A22. There’s a marked change in scenery with rolling hills giving way to alpine vistas and onion shaped domes on the churches. Apple orchards compete with vineyards to be the area’s main produce while road signs are in German as well as Italian.
St. Paul’s winery is a co-operative established in 1907, producing bottles from grapes sourced from various vineyards in the area which are too small to commercially produce their own wine. The result is a wide range of wines with the Passion line representing St. Paul’s “top of the line” products. Within the Passion line we ended up being keen on the Gewurz, while the Riserva Pinot Bianco Weissburgunder was very good too. Also notable is the Praeclarus Brut, a sparkling wine, which we think is a worthy substitute for the more expensive French champagnes.
The area is better known for its white wines and these are the ones that we found to be of good value. Of the reds, we tried and liked the Passion Lagrein Riserva. The Lagrein is a local grape that one could say is similar to the Pinot Noir or Syrah grape. We had the Lagrein with some nice simple cold cuts following a tour of an old war bunker that St. Paul’s has converted into wine storage.
We closed our visit with some delicious dessert of tiramisu and sacher cake – befitting for an area that strides Italy and Austria.
The scenery was some of the nicest that we saw in our trip in Italy and I can imagine how spectacular it must be on a crisp, sunny winter day with snow on the ground and the surrounding Tyrollean alps in sharp view. Alas, being a warm, sunny day in April, the air was a bit hazy and did not do justice to the view. The nice thing is that it’s a relatively comfortable drive north of Verona and one can swing by Lake Garda on the way back. Also, we discovered a good wine – the Gewurz – to have with Chinese, Thai and other Malaysian/Singaporean cuisine. Just waiting to have mine with some curry laksa!
St. Paul’s website: http://www.kellereistpauls.com/en