White Wine Feature: Niklas, Kerner, Alto Adige 2008

Alto Adige is the German-speaking region in the far north-east of Italy, just south of the Austrian border. In Alto Adige Dieter Sölva is a young winemaker from the tiny village of St. Nikolaus, high up on the west side of a valley that leads north through the Dolomites.

The Kerner grape is the great success story of modern German vine breeding...bred...in 1969...from red parent Trollinger (Schiava Grossa) and Riesling.

Dieter Soelva's father, a well-known viticultural consultant in the Alto Adige, brought the variety from Germany in the 1970s. Thus, the Niklas family vines are the oldest Kerner vines in the region.

The large white berries produce wines commendably close to Riesling in flavour except with their own leafy aroma and very slightly coarser texture.

Dieter's Kerner is vivid, minerally and shows a distinctive herbal quality.

Vinification: In steel with a few hours of skin contact during fermentation.
(www.omwines.com)

This is a long time staff favorite.