Girlan Paradise found

Paradise found: New Arrivals from Italy’s Alto Adige.

“Innovation and a pioneering spirit have driven this historic Oltradige winery since its beginnings in 1923. This was one of the earliest co-operative winemaking operations to pay growers not just for quantity but also the quality of the grapes. The winery and cellarmaster Gerhard Kofler play a significant role in the Alto Adige winemaking and vineyard scenario. These are all major wines with great technique and personality.”
Gambero Rosso 2010

The alpine melting pot of Alto Adige must be one of Europe’s most under appreciated sources of world-class white wines. It is also capable of producing wonderful, unique reds, as the wines below prove. Early this year we introduced the wines from the Girlan collective, one of the region’s most progressive co-operatives. We know many of you were delighted with the quality, character and value they offered because you told us so and because the wines sold so quickly. With our second shipment, we move on to the 2010 wines which offer more of the same (at substantially cheaper pricing*): intensely mineral, racy whites and intriguing, gastronomically-slanted reds from local grape Lagrein and wildcard extraordinaire Schiava. For wine drinkers looking to Italy for something different, there is probably no better place to start; we think these wines offer some of the brightest, most exciting values in the country.
The finest Alto Adige’s wines are as astonishing as their setting. This is isolated, high-altitude viticulture at its most extreme. The breathtaking vineyard plots seem more suited to mountaineers than vignerons. Here, an endless variety of stony, well drained, south facing slopes look down on the Adige River from heights between 750 feet and a dizzying 3250 feet. We explained in some detail in our previous offer that the wine culture here has more in common with Austria or Germany than with the rest of Italy. It is these cultural influences combined... learn more