Vernatsch, Lagrein, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio

The hustle and bustle experienced by fruit farmers who have been at the mercy of wholesale merchants and wholesale tree nurseries over the last 20 years, has now also infected their colleagues – the wine growers.

Over a very short period of time, many vines - mainly Vernatsch vines were uprooted and replaced by so-called "more marketable” grape varieties. Some decisions are reasonably easy to follow through: just two generations ago Vernatsch was a very profitable wine & was therefore always planted in the best locations. Driven by Italian wine guides, a substantial demand for high-end Cabernets & Merlots emerged in the 1980s. This meant that a few draw horses had to be brought in to replace the Vernatsch grapes being cultivated in the warmest locations with the weightier grape varieties mentioned above. And very successfully: crowns, laurels, 3 glasses & the like were raked in by the dozen. The irony of wine fate: the fast winds of wine trends have long since turned & the very Italian wine guides that celebrated our Cabernets & Merlots the loudest dropped them the fastest.

Then the hype around South Tyrolean white wines began: Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Gewürztraminer, Kerner, Sauvignon and Sylvaner. Between them, Salurn, Merano, Überetsch and Vinschgau couldn't grow their vines fast enough to satisfy the increasing demand on the wine market. Hans Terzer, the long-time master cellarman at the St. Michael/Eppan Winery Cooperative is certainly one of the pioneers of the South Tyrolean white wine boom of recent decades. Terzer has proven that South Tyrolean white wines from higher altitudes are also very long-standing and can cause an international sensation. This is especially true of the exclusive "St. Valentin" premium line available in all Vinum Hotels South Tyrol.

But beyond these celebrated premium wines, South Tyrolean niche wines such as "Blatterle" form Bozen which has just been saved from extinction or "Fraueler" from Vinschgau and especially the various Vernatsch varieties will surprise even the most demanding "wine palates":

Jens Priewe, one of the most influential German wine critics, recently enthused about St. Magdalener "Huck am Bach" from Bozen Winery,

“The funny thing is that this St. Magdalener tasted so good that evening especially to those who by profession are usually occupied with champagnes, Burgundies, super Tuscans and similar wine celebrities, that as one of the guests myself, it immediately became clear to me just why this wine is wonderfully unstrained. You don't have to rummage through the wine or delve into it, to extract any secrets from it. You do not need to describe it verbosely. Nor do you have to wait years for it to reach a climax. Actually, it's always there. One pours some wine, leans back, guides one's fork to the mouth carrying on it good traditional South Tyrolean fare and then washes it down with a drink from the glass. This is the way "Huck am Bach" likes it done best".