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The eastern valley side of the South Tyrolean lowlands offers the best Lagrein sites near Auer and Neumarkt, in addition to the top Pinot Noir site of Mazzon. And every winery has one or two oenological gems to offer in addition to these two top wines. Precisely because this side of the valley is not as well known and developed for wine tourism as the other side of the valley with the famous wine villages of Tramin and Kaltern, you can make very enjoyable discoveries here.

Mazzon - Pinot Noir

South Tyrol's Pinot Noir "Grand Cru" Mazzon (Source: EOS)

"The best South Tyrolean Pinot Noir certainly does not grow only in Mazzon, but the sites here are certainly among the best South Tyrol has to offer for this difficult grape variety," says Michela Carlotto, who, together with Peter Dipoli, has published an informative book about Pinot Noir from Mazzon. Any South Tyrolean producer who can call a parcel here his own is sure to be the envy of all others who have to do without Pinot Noir grapes of this origin.

Almost all the top producers of this wine have vineyards here; first and foremost the Hofstätter Winery, whose Riserva "Urbanhof" has made South Tyrolean Pinot Noir famous as a top wine beyond the borders of South Tyrol and Italy, Franz Haas, the Girlan Winery with the Riserva "Trattmannhof" and the "Patricia" selection, the Nals-Margreid Winery with the Pinot Noir "Mazzon" and the self-marketers Gottardi and Carlotto, to name only the most important.

The Mazzon vineyards are geologically characterised by sandstones, reddish and yellow siltstones, limestones, marls and dolomites, and climatically by the fact that the sun only appears here from midday. This results in a relatively fresh climate that allows Pinot Noir to develop the refinement and elegance that distinguish it.

Auer/Neumarkt - Lagrein

"The best Lagrein comes from Gries" is a statement that is not usually contradicted. And anyone who knows the best Lagrein selections from this district of Bolzano will first agree. After my visit to the Unterland, however, I am no longer quite so sure. Without wanting to belittle the quality of the Gries Lagrein, I had to conclude that some of the wines of this original South Tyrolean variety from the vineyards near Auer and Neumarkt are at least equal to the growths from Gries.

Just like the Talfer River in Gries, the Schwarzenbach and Trudener Bach streams in Auer and Neumarkt have formed up to 35-metre-high debris cones of dolomite rock, limestone and all kinds of other materials over the millennia, creating the best conditions for Lagrein, which loves dry and hot soils. The wines of Carlotto, Happacherhof, Franz Hass, Castelfeder, Soini, Stefan Vaja and H. Lentsch show that top Lagrein does not only thrive in Gries.

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Ferruccio Carlotto

You don't necessarily see it at first glance in the reserved, delicately built Michela Carlotto. She is full of energy, she is very ambitious, she wants to reach high - and: she has what it takes. A single-mindedness and, above all, the inner security that it takes to realise big goals. The "Grand Crus de Bourgogne" map displayed in her tasting room shows where she is headed. Probably the most fascinating, but also the most difficult red wine in the world is her subject - Pinot Noir.

As far as the sites are concerned, Michela Carlotto, who has been running the mini-winery in Auer together with her father since 2000, has the best prerequisites: The sites in Mazzon provide the best grape material, and everything in the meticulous cellar is state of the art. "But good Pinot Noir needs more than a modern cellar and good grapes. Namely, lots and lots of experience and a good portion of humility. Because really great wines are not 'made', they come from attention and from accepting what the vineyard and the vintage provide," says Michela Carlotto.

Michela and Ferruccio Carlotto (Source: Carlotto)

The development of the Pinot Noir "Filari di Mazzòn" she produces over the last few years shows that the young woman has already integrated much of what she said into her work. The wine has become more and more refined, delicate and finessed. Whereas in the past, more attempts were made to give the Pinot Noir a little more melt in the mouth with the use of new wood and the associated earlier ripeness for drinking, now the focus is on the fineness of the fruit and the minerality. And the younger vintages of their Pinot Noir are more capable of development and more in need of development than their predecessors.

The second important wine is the Lagrein "Di Ora in Ora", which finds the best conditions on the stony alluvial soils in Auer. A fruity, structured Lagrein, which is extremely animating due to its pleasant cool, tart character. This wine can also mature well and should not be drunk too early.

The range is completed by an extremely interesting Vernatsch. As with many producers, this variety used to receive less attention than Pinot Noir and Lagrein at Carlotto. That is changing. Michela Carlotto discovers the qualities of this South Tyrolean classic and wants to develop it into a very special wine. It should have a certain structure so that you don't have to drink it within a year, but at the same time it should be a classic Vernatsch - fine, elegant and pleasantly uncomplicated. One can be curious.

The wines cost between 6.50 and 18 euros ex farm.

Ferruccio Carlotto
Clauserweg 19
39040 Auer
Italy
Phone: +39 0471 810407
Mobile: +39 347 5526233
Fax: +39 0471 810981
e-mail: michelacarlotto@gmail.com

The wines of the Feruccio Carlotto Winery in the wine guide

Clemens Waldthaler

The Waldthaler Winery is one of the most traditional wineries in South Tyrol, family-owned since 1735 and now in its eighth generation. As with almost all traditional wineries, larger quantities of grapes used to be bought in, but now almost all of them, with the exception of Pinot Noir, come from the winery's own vineyards. Accordingly, the range consists mainly of varieties that find the best conditions in the relatively warm sites in and around Auer: Pinot Grigio for the white wines, Lagrein, Merlot and Cabernet for the reds.

Clemens Waldthaler is a quiet, relaxed and very hospitable person. Those who visit him should bring plenty of time with them. If you make an appointment, the winemaker will be happy to take the time and tell you in detail about his ideas on viticulture. Never dry, though, i.e. never without wine, because that doesn't suit Waldthaler. So it's best to bring along an abstemious chauffeur as well.

Clemens Waldthaler (Source: Brunner)

The time Waldthaler takes for interested visitors is also given to his wines. His red wines are very ripe due to the variety. But he also lets the white wines mature longer than usual in large barrels. "They simply become more interesting and profound this way," the winemaker explains. As far as the Pinot Grigio is concerned, I can confirm that. A fine, varietal-typical wine and, above all, very multi-faceted. The winery's strength, however, lies in the red wines, above all the Lagrein. Spicy, powerful, structured and at the same time tart, cool and multi-layered - a classic that is certainly one of the best of its kind in South Tyrol.

Clemens Waldthaler uses his most valuable red grapes from very limited yields from the best sites for the wines of the "RAUT®" selection and produces four wines from them: the single-varietal Lagrein, Merlot and Cabernet as well as the "RAUT®" cuvée. These wines are only bottled in particularly good years. The cuvée, which is officially marketed as "Vino da tavola", is certainly the winery's showpiece wine. A wine that proves that even dark, "heavy" red wines can be incredibly racy, animating and drinkable. A full-bodied, but at the same time fine, elegant, pleasantly austere and "Nordic" red wine from the south side of the Alps, where you can feel the sun of the south just as much as the elegance of the mountains. Very seductive, just like a stay at this winery.

The wines cost between 6 and 20 euros ex farm.

Winery Clemens Waldthaler
Bach alley 2
39040 Auer
Italy
Phone/Fax: +39 0471 810 182
e-mail: weingut.c.waldthaler@gmx.com

Happacherhof

The origins of the Happacherhof go back to the early 17th century. The name is derived from an earlier owner family, Happacher. After a chequered history, the estate of about twelve hectares was purchased by the South Tyrolean provincial government in 1983 and made available to the secondary school for agriculture in Auer as a training farm.

But anyone who associates "school" and "training" with unprofessionalism is completely wrong here. This school shows its students the ropes and offers the buyers of its wines extremely high-quality products that have no problem at all in asserting themselves on a demanding market. "Anything else would make no sense at all," says Bernhard Pichler, director of viticulture at Happacherhof, "because South Tyrol is generally unsuitable for producing large quantities at low prices due to its small-scale agriculture. Only quality production makes sense here, and this is what we teach our students." Fundamentally and comprehensively, as the quality of the wines on sale shows. And because all aspects of agriculture are taught, part of the production, i.e. the Lagrein vineyards, are farmed according to organic guidelines and are certified by Bioland.

The Happacherhof (source: Brunner)

The varieties cultivated are Chardonnay, Merlot, Lagrein and Cabernet, which are suitable for the warm sites near Auer. The former are vinified as single varieties, the Cabernet as a cuvée with Merlot. The straw wine (Italian: passito) "Aurum" is made from specially selected Chardonnay grapes, a concentrated yet subtle wine with fine acidity.

For 2014, the Happacherhof also plans to have its own distillery.

The wines cost between 9.60 and 17 euros ex farm.

Happacherhof
Foxhole 20
39040 Auer
Italy
Phone: +39 0471 810538
Fax: +39 0471 810537
E-mail: info@ofl-auer.it
Internet: www.ofl-auer.it

The wines of the Happacherhof in the wine guide

Franz Haas

A visit to Franz Haas can be quite exhausting. I don't remember how many barrels he let me taste his Pinot Noir from various vintages, but if I hadn't said "stop" at some point, he wouldn't have left out a single one, and then it would probably have continued with various other varieties. I could and was allowed to say "no" - Franz Haas does not spare himself or his staff in this respect. Because when it comes to wine and especially Pinot Noir, he is an "obsessive". He always wants to make everything a little better than it already is. Although he has long been one of the top producers of Pinot Noir in South Tyrol, he is never really completely satisfied. And: He doesn't want to "put anything superfluous into the world".

At some point during the tasting of mature vintages of his Merlot "Schweizer" as part of the tasting of mature wines from South Tyrol, he asked the question: "Does the world need this wine?" Given the quality of the wines presented, both I and editorial and tasting director Marcus Hofschuster were mildly surprised by this question. But it shows what matters to Franz Haas with his top wines: Do they express something special and are they really worth producing? In my opinion, the quality as well as the very individual character of his wines answer this question quite clearly. But apparently that is not enough for Franz Haas. He has this ambition that only wants to be measured against the best - and it is simply not enough for him to produce one of the best Merlots in South Tyrol.

Franz Haas (Source: Haas)

This ambition has often been described with admiration and is certainly one of Franz Haas' most striking characteristics as well as the guarantee for the quality of his wines. But what fascinates me even more about Franz Haas is something else entirely: for all his ambition to produce an even better Pinot Noir, like the top producers of Burgundy, he is not narrow-mindedly fixated on wine taste. A conversation with him can very quickly take on political, economic, philosophical or very practical traits (cork or screw cap), and in the end, art as well as the pure enjoyment of life are not neglected.

Franz Haas sees his work with wine as a holistic, sensual and aesthetic affair. This is also evident in the successful and coherent design of the winery. This need for coherence, aesthetics and enjoyment, as well as the ambition to always want to do everything even better, the ever-present sense of practicality and usefulness (the aforementioned screw caps) - all this together characterises Franz Haas, and all this resonates in his wines. And all this gives his wines what they are made of: personality.

The wines cost between 9 and 28 euros ex farm.

Winery Franz Haas
Villnerstrasse 6
39040 Montan
Italy
Phone: +39 0471 812280
Fax: +39 0471 820283
E-mail: info@franz-haas.it
Internet: www.franz-haas.it

The wines of Franz Haas in the wine guide

Brunnenhof Mazzon - Johanna and Kurt Rottensteiner

"If I were only a grape producer, we wouldn't be sitting here together now talking about my wines. What I produce to be able to present to my guests is a piece of quality of life for me," says Kurt Rottensteiner during my visit to his cellar. He could have made it quite easy for himself if he had done everything the way it was originally planned. He bought the Brunnenhof in Mazzon in 1987 from his paid-out share of his family's wine business in Bolzano. The grapes produced here were to be sold to his uncle's winery in Bolzano at a good price - Pinot Noir grapes from Mazzon have always been in demand. But Rottensteiner realised quite soon after buying the Brunnenhof that he wanted to do more than just produce grapes and sell them. After all, he is also a trained winemaker, and for such a person "it is not satisfying in the long run not to produce your own wine, especially if you own vineyards in the best Pinot Noir sites in South Tyrol." So in 1999 the first own Pinot Noir was bottled, which also sold quite well due to its quality. Fermentation takes place spontaneously with the estate's own yeasts. The wine is then matured in small and large barrels and is then stored in steel tanks and in the bottle. It is a powerful Pinot Noir, but always pleasantly cool with elegant acidity and fine minerality.

Kurt Rottensteiner (Source: Rottensteiner)

In addition to Pinot Noir, Gewürztraminer is also very much appreciated on the Brunnenhof. The Traminers from the eastern side of the valley are always somewhat overshadowed by the famous growths from Tramin, Kurtatsch and Magreid - unjustly so. They are not as lush and opulent and certainly not as ripe. But they are immensely charming, fine and elegant wines. Provided that the winemaker manages to bring out these characteristics. Kurt Rottensteiner succeeds impressively. His Traminer is not a wine for tastings, but rather one to drink. But not necessarily for quick drinking either. Rottensteiner presented me with a few older vintages of his Traminer, and they were extremely impressive. The fruit, which is already appealing in its youth, differentiates more and more with moderate, i.e. three to four-year ripening, and becomes more complex and multi-layered.

In 2009, Kurt Rottensteiner took on the challenge of a completely different type of wine and bought a small vineyard in Neumarkt in the district of Vill in the best Lagrein sites with 80-year-old vines. The results can be tasted from 2013, as well as a fine new white wine from the Incrocio Manzoni grape variety with the fantasy name "Eva", an elegant, cool and at the same time lasting, tasty mountain white wine from the south side of the Alps.

Although he is a very quiet, reserved person, Kurt Rottensteiner obviously always needs something new with which to prove his class as a winemaker.

The wines cost between 10 and 14 euros ex farm.

Brunnenhof Mazzon - Johanna and Kurt Rottensteiner
Mountain hunter road 5
39040 Mazzon/Neumarkt
Italy
Phone: +39 0471 820687
Fax: +39 0471 820687
E-mail: info@brunnenhof-mazzon.it
Internet: www.brunnenhof-mazzon.it

Gottardi Winery

South Tyrolean Pinot Noir with the Gottardi label has been a household name among connoisseurs for some years now. The founder of this winery, Bruno Gottardi, unfortunately passed away in 2010. His son Alexander has taken over his legacy. A legacy that many surely envy him for. The name Gottardi has become a byword for the best Pinot Noir from South Tyrol. The other side of this enviable heritage is to live up to it. Alexander Gottardi does this with the same qualities that already distinguished his father: impressive calm and composure as well as a great deal of expertise and empathy.

Alexander Gottardi (Source: Gottardi)

It was precisely Alexander Gottardi's calmness and objectivity that excited me during my visit and made me curious about his wines. After the tour through the vineyards and the very functionally furnished cellar, I knew without having tasted the wines: Only really good wines leave the cellar here. The fact that the standards are high is due to the fact that the Gottardi family is very familiar with top-class wines. They run a wine shop in Innsbruck, where the best Burgundies are sold alongside many other world-class wines. And: Bruno Gottardi was closely acquainted with the Burgundy domains Comte de Vogüé and Armand Rosseau. And he was guided by their standards when he bought the vineyard in Mazzon in 1986.

The vineyards are situated between 300 and 400 metres above sea level, which offers a balanced mixture of fruit fullness from the lower sites and elegance from the higher vineyards. The orientation towards Burgundy was always understood here as a challenge and never as "we want to copy Burgundy". South Tyrol is South Tyrol - also with Pinot Noir, that was always important to Bruno Gottardi and still is to his son Alexander - and so the Gottardi Pinot Noir always has the fullness and fruit that make up the South Tyrolean charm, and at the same time it has that certain something that distinguishes it from other Pinot Noirs in Italy or from overseas.

Apart from the suitable sites, the work in the cellar is certainly responsible for this. The principle applies: good is what promotes quality. Everything here is functional and set up for the capricious Pinot Noir grape. The hillside location and the associated advantages of gravity are exploited to avoid quality-reducing pumping. And that too may play a role in the quality of the Gottardi Pinot Noir: The winery has been a pure Pinot Noir domain since 2010. All other varieties have been replaced by Pinot Noir, so that it gets all the attention.

No farm-gate sales. The wines are available in South Tyrol at the Vinothek Battisti in Kaltern, among other places, and of course at their own Innsbruck Vinothek; price: 18 euros.

Winery Gottardi
Mountain hunter road 17
39044 Mazzon/Neumarkt
Italy
Phone/Fax: +39 0471 812773
E-Mail: weingut@gottardi-mazzon.com
Internet: www.gottardi-mazzon.com

Pfitscher Winery

When Klaus Pfitscher told me in autumn 2011 that the Ansitz Pfitscherhof in the village of Montan would be abandoned as a winery, I thought to myself: "What a shame! A historic property, connected with the wine-growing tradition of the village - how is this to be adequately replaced?" Of course, something like that cannot be adequately replaced. But Klaus Pfitscher, together with his family, has created something new that makes the loss of the traditional estate more than bearable: A winery in the middle of his own vineyards, with the best view of the same; modern, clear and inviting. And - what would not have been possible in the old buildings - the whole thing at the highest ecological level.

The newly built Pfitscher winery is the first in Italy to meet all the standards required for the "Klimahaus Wein" classification and was awarded the corresponding rating, which "assesses the environmental compatibility of the building in the same way as living comfort, the use of energy and water in winemaking, the choice of packaging and the impact of transport". A good thing. After all, viticulture in particular is directly dependent on the climate, and everything that is done to protect it is to be welcomed. "Social and ecological responsibility" is important to Klaus Pfitscher, even though his winery is not an organic operation.

The Pfitscher Winery - Italy's first climate house wine (Source: Pfitscher)

The winery is a so-called commercial winery, which could also buy in grapes on a larger scale. At Ansitz Pfitscher, however, most of the grapes come from vineyards in Montan, Neumarkt and Kurtatsch that are either owned or leased and cultivated under the winery's own management. A wide range of classic Unterland wines are produced. In Montan, the Pinot Nero "Matan" grown in the hamlet of Glen and Langefeld grows at 600 metres above sea level. In Neumarkt, Lagrein, Merlot, Grauvernatsch, Chardonnay and Gewürztraminer are produced from the elevated "In die Gries" vineyard facing the afternoon sun. The Lagrein "Kotznloater" produced on the other side of the valley in Kurtatsch and the cuvée "Cortazzo" (Lagrein, Merlot and Syrah) benefit from the heavy clay soils and the cool evening winds on the western side of the valley.

It is important to Klaus Pfitscher that each variety is planted in the most suitable location for it and thus delivers the optimal qualities. By spreading the vineyards over the three locations Montan, Neumarkt and Kurtatsch, he is able to offer a wide range of wines, which, precisely because of its diversity, guarantees that every bottle contains the best that the respective site has to offer. How it tastes depends of course - as always with wine - on personal preferences. I could imagine the Pinot Noir "Matan" being finer and more elegant with less wood. But that is my view of things, which does not have to coincide with the opinion of others. The best thing to do is to drop by South Tyrol's first "Klimahaus Wein", taste the wines produced here and make your own judgement. An enjoyable visit is guaranteed in any case.

The wines cost between 8 and 23 euros ex farm.

Pfitscher Winery
Via Dolomiti 17
39040 Montan
Italy
Phone: +39 0471 1681317
Fax: +39 0471 1681219
E-mail: info@pfitscher.it
Internet: www.pfitscher.it

Thalerhof / Maso Thaler - Motta family

"Many people must think 'they must be crazy to grow wine up here' when they drive up to us," says Filippo Motta when I visited him at Maso Thaler in Glenn. I didn't think so at first, because I was so fascinated by the aesthetics of the steep vineyards reaching up to 700 metres, lined by the wooded slopes of the Trudener Horn Nature Park. But the beauty of nature and cultural landscape, which is impressive for the visitor - and also for the owners - enriches the senses and warms the heart, demands a lot from the winegrower. A lot of work and also a certain willingness to take risks: "Fortunately, it hasn't happened yet, but in such steep locations a tractor can sometimes get out of control in bad weather." Competition from the forest can also get to the vines, fast-growing acacia trees as well as hungry deer and stags.

However, the desire to return to their roots and the will to produce wine here was so strong in the Motta brothers that reservations of any kind played no role, and so Filippo and Francesco began to professionally cultivate their maternal grandfather's property again in 1986. At that time, the grandfather was still doing some viticulture and fruit growing on the farm, as well as cattle breeding and forestry. At the beginning of the new millennium, the Mottas specialised entirely in viticulture. They planted new vineyards with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and the Pinot Blanc-Riesling cross Incrocio Manzoni. They are all classic mountain wines, with a focus on finesse and elegance.

Maso Thaler (Source: Maso Thaler)

A development that can be observed in many small, home-grown wineries in South Tyrol in recent years can be seen in the wines of the Thalerhof in a particularly impressive way: On the one hand, the wines have become better and better from a technical point of view. They are clear, finely fruity wines typical of the grape variety. But what is even more important is that many producers have become more self-confident and care less about what "the market" demands and more about what their terroir demands. The result: the wines are becoming more and more independent, expressive and coherent - more individual in the best sense. And: "The vines are getting older and simply deliver better qualities, and we are also getting older and learning," says Filippo Motta. It's that simple - if you have the right conditions and know how to make something out of it. Both are the case here. In the case of the white wines of the Thalerhof, an elegant minerality and intensity of flavour have joined their slender, fine nature, and in the case of Pinot Noir, the clarity, finesse and elegance that characterise this grape variety.

The wines cost between 8 and 16 euros ex farm.

Thalerhof/Maso Thaler - Family Motta
Glen 59
39040 Montan
Italy
Phone: +39 0471 819928
Fax: +39 0471 819345
E-mail: info@masothaler.it
Internet: masothaler.it

Peter Dipoli

Anyone who is involved in the South Tyrolean wine scene knows Peter Dipoli. For a quarter of a century he has been active as a producer, wine merchant and above all as an ambassador of South Tyrolean quality wine. He does all this with great passion and a refreshing directness that has not always earned him only friends. He has also been called "tipo poco amabile" (a little lovable type), which he has always taken as a compliment. He likes to be uncomfortable and to address things that are unpleasant for others, for which he is - in the meantime - also appreciated by his "opponents".

Peter Dipoli (Source: Dipoli)

Passionate as ever, Peter Dipoli has become calmer and more relaxed. This is partly due to the fact that many of his suggestions have fallen on fertile ground, but certainly also because he has now reached a level of quality with his own wines that provides grounds for great satisfaction. First and foremost his Sauvignon Blanc "Voglar", a Sauvignon oriented on the Loire models with depth, intensity and enormous ripening potential, which grows on sites from 400 to 600 metres above sea level in Penon above Kurtatsch. "I'm not interested in the superficial, vegetal fruit aromas that are often found in Sauvignon when the grapes are harvested early with a lot of unripe green acidity. I want more or something different," says Peter Dipoli and continues: "Complex aromas that need time. To evaluate my wines, I therefore depend on tasters and consumers who take this time for the wine. And I am interested in what the site and the vintage give the wine. I may not like that every year. This year [2011, editor's note], for example, I would like to harvest later to get a ripe acidity, but the current heat probably doesn't allow that. I have to accept that as well. But so does the customer, if he wants real terroir wine." When all the conditions are right and the grapes can ripen completely without losing acidity, the "Voglar" is one of the best Sauvignons in Italy. And like all complex wines, it not only tastes good in its youth, but also has very good ageing potential.

What is true for Dipoli's Sauvignon Blanc is also true for his two red wines, especially for the "Iugum", a cuvée of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot A dense, structured wine in Bordeaux style that needs a few years; on the one hand, to put away the ageing in small wooden barrels, and above all, to bring out the complex secondary aromas. The vineyards are located on the opposite side of the valley, 300 metres above Margreid. The third wine in the bunch is the Merlot "Fihl". A drinkable yet multi-layered red whose grapes are partly from Neumarkt or from those that do not meet the high standards of the "Iugum".

As a wine merchant, Peter Dipoli also always has the "other side" in mind, namely that of the customer, and so he offers his wines at - measured against the quality - very reasonable prices.

No direct sales. Information on where the wines can be purchased can be found here. In Germany, the wines cost between 15 and 28 euros.

Peter Dipoli
Villner street 5
39044 Neumarkt
Italy
Phone: +39 0471 813400
Fax: +39 0471 813444
E-mail: peterdipoli@finewines.it
Internet: www.peterdipoli.com

The wines of Peter Dipoli in the wine guide

Glassierhof - Stefan Vaja

Before he started his own business, Stefan Vaja was a member of the Tramin cooperative and active on its board. He did not have to worry financially. The cooperative paid good prices for good grape qualities, and Stefan Vaja could deliver good qualities. But he did not agree with every decision that was made, and since he is "probably simply incapable of democracy" and prefers to do nothing but what he wants, and to do it the way he imagines, he chose the path of self-employment. Stefan Vaja's "incapacity for democracy" was joined by his attachment to nature and his identification with his work, whose - organically produced - fruits he wanted to have in his hands as such. "I am fascinated by accompanying the wines from the beginning to the end," he confesses.

Stephan Vaja (Source: Brunner)

Stefan Vaja also made his own wine for self-consumption and for friends and acquaintances back in the cooperative days. Now everything is produced and marketed by himself. The "spiritual father" of self-employment was his neighbour Peter Dipoli, himself a winemaker and also a militant ambassador of authentic wines. He convinced Stefan Vaja to produce his wines according to his own ideas, to market them himself and supported him with regard to marketing, but above all by making his cellar equipment available to him. Organic farming is important to Stefan Vaja, but he does not practice it for "ideological reasons" (although with his lion's mane he looks like an eco-freak of the first hour), but simply because he "has no desire to expose myself, my family and my employees to chemical sprays, and because I want to leave a healthy soil for my children". When he starts talking about organic farming and everything that goes with it, you get the impression that he is more consistent in his pragmatic way than many a marketing-oriented organic producer.

Stefan Vaja currently produces six wines exclusively from his own grapes from his vineyards in Neumarkt. Full-bodied whites from Chardonnay, Sauvignon and Pinot Blanc, a Vernatsch from old vineyards he acquired in 2010, a dense, concentrated Lagrein and a Merlot-Cabernet cuvée.

Prices range from 10 to 13 euros.

Farm tour and tasting by appointment.

Stefan Vaja
Via Villner 13
39044 Neumarkt
Italy
Phone: +39 335 1031673
E-Mail: glassierhof@tin.it

The wines of the Glassierhof in the wine guide

H. Lun Winery

A former, long-established Unterland company.

1840 - this date is prominently displayed on the labels of the basic line of the H. Lun Winery. The winery has existed under its current name since that year. This makes it one of the oldest wineries in South Tyrol. 173 years is a long time, and of course a lot has happened in that time. Most of the vineyards from those years no longer exist. The name H. Lun, however, does.

Sandbichler - the top line (Source: H. Lun)

Many ups and downs mark the history of this winery until recent times. I can still remember the 1990s when wine-loving friends kept bringing me excellent wines - especially Pinot Noir "Sandbichler" - from the H. Lun winery back from their South Tyrolean travels. They were always fine, elegant wines that offered a lot for the money. At some point - around the beginning of the 2000s - the friends stopped bringing wines. For good reason: the quality was simply not what it used to be. The H. Lun winery, which depended on good suppliers, lost more and more of its suppliers with good vineyards because they either went into business for themselves or joined the financially more attractive cooperatives.

For five or six years now, the Lun wines have once again been among the finest growths in South Tyrol. What has changed? Something very simple and yet very unusual: the H. Lun Winery has more or less copied its lost suppliers and joined a cooperative itself or was bought by one. The Girlan Winery has taken over the H. Lun Winery and continues to run it as an independent brand. With the integration into the Girlan Winery, the name H. Lun has become qualitatively what it once was - at least! It now once again stands for high-quality, typical wines from South Tyrol - and at decidedly moderate prices. Gerhard Kofler, passionate, ambitious, capable and above all sensitive cellar master of the Girlan winery, ensures that the Lun wines are once again a bank, or even more: that these wines get better and better every year.

The "Sandbichler" line impresses again and again with its fineness, elegance and typicity at the highest level - whether it is the South Tyrolean classics Sauvignon, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Noir, the international, but in the meantime also - at least in the Unterland - almost classic Cabernet, Riesling or the white wine cuvée "Sandbichler Bianco". The same applies to the basic line: it offers typicity at the highest and most affordable level. Especially with Vernatsch, Gerhard Kofler shows with the Kalterersee "Klosterhof" and the classic St. Magdalener that the name H. Lun is once again a sure guarantee for first-class wines from South Tyrol at the best price-quality ratio.

The wines cost between 6 and 14 euros in retail sales.

H. Lun Winery
St.-Martin street 24
39057 Girlan
Italy
Phone: +39 0471 662403
Fax: +39 0471 662654
E-mail: info@lun.it
Internet: www.lun.it

The wines of the H. Lun Winery in the wine guide

Recommended restaurants in Auer, Neumarkt and surroundings

Restaurant - Pizzeria Schwarzenbach

"La miglior pizza dell'Unterland - the best pizza in the Unterland" is what you get at Pizzeria Schwarzenbach, says winemaker Ferruccio Gottardi - and not only him. That is why the restaurant is always well frequented, especially in the warm season. It is beautifully situated in a wooded park, where children can play without disturbing the adults while they eat. Apart from pizza, there is also classic South Tyrolean cuisine on a down-to-earth level at reasonable prices. In addition to good open wines from the Tramin winery, there is also a small selection of the best 7/10th wines, also available by the glass on request.

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 12 to 22 hrs.

Schwarzenbach 7
39040 Auer
Phone/Fax: +39 0471 810295

Hotel-Restauarant Andreas Hofer

Classic South Tyrolean inn with equally good cuisine, although the menu here is a little more varied and the food a little more refined than in many other establishments of this kind. In addition to good open wines, there is a small selection of higher-quality wines from Neumarkt producers on tap. All at quite moderate prices.

Opening hours: Monday to Saturday from 12 to 14 and from 18.30 to 20.30.

Street of the old foundations 21-23
39044 Neumarkt
Phone: +39 0471 812653
Fax: +39 0471 812953
E-mail: info@hotelandreashofer.com
Internet: www.hotelandreashofer.com

Johnson & Dipoli

A restaurant that has to be mentioned because it is mentioned in all reports about gastronomy in Neumarkt. There is a large selection of top Italian and international wines and very good food. However, it is not cheap. The restaurant is very stylishly furnished, and in the warm season you can sit beautifully under the arcades. That alone is worth a visit.

Opening hours: The pub is open from 9am to 2am, the kitchen from 12pm to 3pm and 7pm to 10pm; no closing day, no company holidays.

Andreas Hofer Street 3
39044 Neumarkt
Phone: +39 0471 820323
E-mail: vincenzo.degasperi@katamail.com

Hofschänke Kuckuckshof

Beautifully situated Buschenschank above Mazzon, where the vineyards border on the forest and the surrounding area invites you to take long hikes. On the farm, the Oberhauser family invites you to enjoy hearty South Tyrolean snacks and their own wine, which goes perfectly with the dishes on offer. Rooms and flats are also available. All-round care on a solid level at very moderate prices.

Opening hours: Friday and Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m., Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m..

Mountain road 1
39044 Neumarkt/Mazzon
Phone (Buschenschank): +39 339 1864391
Phone/Fax (flats): +39 0471 812405

Dorfnerhof Inn

Somewhat off the beaten track, about seven kilometres in the direction of Truden, beautifully situated in the woods with a magnificent view of the Etsch Valley, this inn offers everything your heart desires in the way of culinary delights as well as - not to be sneezed at given its remote location - stylish accommodation. Anton Dalvai learned his trade in some of Italy's best establishments, and it shows. Classic, hearty South Tyrolean cuisine is interpreted here in a very creative, imaginative and refined way. All this at moderate prices and with a wine selection that leaves nothing to be desired and whose focus is on the producers of the lowlands.

Kitchen opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 12 to 14 h and from 18 to 21.30 h. From 6 January, the Dorfnerhof will be closed for five to six weeks.

Gschnon 5
39040 Montan
Phone/Fax: +39 0471 819798
E-Mail: info@dorfnerhof.it
Internet: www.dorfnerhof.it

Useful addresses

www.suedtirolwein.com

The official website of the South Tyrolean wine industry with all useful information about the wine region of South Tyrol. Always up-to-date is the Facebook page www.facebook.com/suedtirolwein.vinialtoadige.

Independent Winegrowers South Tyrol

Association of currently 82 self-marketing South Tyrolean wineries. An absolute must for every South Tyrolean wine lover: the Vinea Tirolensis, where almost all member wineries present their current wines. This year the event will probably take place in October at the fairgrounds in Bolzano.

Telephone: +39 0471 238002
Fax: +39 0471 238242
E-mail: info@fws.it
Internet: www.fws.it

Red Rooster

Arranges farm accommodation in South Tyrol, including many farm wine producers. The quality criteria are very strict and are checked annually.

Telephone: +39 0471 999325
Fax: +39 0471 981171
E-mail: info@roterhahn.it
Internet: www.roterhahn.it

To Part I of the report: Tramin

Part III of the report: Kurtatsch, Margreid and Kurtinig

Part IV of the report: Branzoll, Laives and Salurn

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