Barrel-fermented Pinot Grigio Riserva wine made from the best grapes grown in the foothills of the Alps

As featured in The Independent: "Aromatic, with notes of passion fruit and elderflower, it bursts on to the tongue with a textured fruitiness balanced by a measured acidity. Pinot grigio has never tasted so good." - John Clarke

Aside from the grape, Pinot Grigio Riserva Giatl has nothing in common with inexpensive supermarket Pinot Grigio. This wine stands out because of its prominent flavours of passion fruit, guava and elderflower. Peter only picks the very best grapes from his “Giatl” vineyard, located in Bassa Atesina / Unterland on the valley floor. “Ora del Garda” – a cool afternoon breeze from Lake Garda – helps the grapes to retain acidity and makes the resulting wine suitable for longer ageing.

Fans will be pleased to hear it's also available in a 1.5 litre magnum-sized bottle, perfect for family gatherings and gifting.

Winemaking

Peter harvests his Pinot Grigio grapes by hand. First, they go through cold maceration overnight, to enhance their fruity flavour. After that, the grapes are pressed and the juice is delicately clarified by gravity, without using a centrifuge. It takes more time, but doesn’t stress the wine. The juice is then fermented in small French oak barriques. Once it reaches the right alcohol level, it stays in the same barriques for another twelve months to age and develop complex flavours. The wine is then bottled and aged for an additional few months to further evolve its taste and aromas. This style of winemaking produces a unique wine with pleasant tropical flavours that has won it a number of prestigious awards.

Tasting notes

Pale gold colour. On the nose it has a medium aromatic intensity, with delicate aromas of passion fruit, guava, pear and elderflower, as well as a touch of ginger and honey. On the palate, it is dry and well-balanced, with pleasant medium acidity, a high level of alcohol and a full body. In the mouth, the wine offers a pronounced and complex blend of passion fruit, elderflower, pear, honey and ginger.

Ageing potential

8-10 years

Awards

Gambero Rosso - Three Glasses (2018 vintage) | Decanter World Wine Awards 2021 - Bronze Medal (2018 vintage) | Decanter World Wine Awards 2020 - Gold Medal (2017 vintage) | Robert Parker - 93 points (2018 vintage) | James Suckling - 93 points (2017 and 2018 vintages) | Mundus Vini 2019 - Gold Medal (2016 vintage) 

Alto Adige Gewürztraminer with aromas of blood orange and guava

This wine from Kurtatsch is a beautiful expression of Gewurztraminer – a white grape famous for its gold colour, tropical flavours and the rosy blush on its skin (pictured). This particular wine offers aromas of guava and lychee with a touch of honey sweetness and a creamy texture. During maturation it's aged on fine lees, which bring flavours of toast to the mix.

Grapes for this wine are grown on an east-facing slope of the Alps, at 300 metres above sea level. The soil is a mixture of limestone, dark grey rocky clay, and a conglomerate of limestone and dolomite rocks.

Gewurztraminer is a hard grape to grow: it needs lots of sunshine to develop its flavour, but if it’s taken too far south it loses its freshness and becomes stale. That’s why it thrives in Alto Adige. Here, with over 300 days of sunshine per year, the grapes can ripen fully. When planted at an elevation, the cool mountain nights help to retain the grapes' natural acidity and freshness.

Winemaking: Grapes are pressed and left overnight at a cold temperature to extract flavour from the skins. The juice is then fermented at a controlled temperature in stainless steel tanks. The gross lees are filtered out, and the wine is left to age for some time on the fine lees. This creates the creamy texture and adds the flavour of toasted bread.

Tasting notes: Pale gold colour. Pronounced aromas of lychee, passion fruit, guava, blood orange, honeysuckle, elderflower, banana and red apple, with a hint of toast. In the mouth, this Kurtatsch Gewurztraminer has medium acidity and is off-dry with a touch of honeyed sweetness. It offers a smooth creamy texture and a high level of alcohol. Thanks to its powerful aromas, it has a long tropical finish. This wine can be enjoyed now, and will continue to develop in the cellar.

Wine Geek's verdict: This Gewurz is very aromatic. It’s kind of a “wow” wine – it charms you as soon as you open the bottle. It has everything I like in wine – tropical fruits, herbs, a touch of honey – and nothing I dislike. When it comes to alcohol content it’s a bit on the high side, but 14% ABV is becoming the norm in Italy these days. This wine has four clusters of aromas (tropical fruit, floral, citrus fruit, lees), so it’s quite complex. It will pair nicely with food that has its own taste, but be careful – it may overwhelm delicate dishes like sashimi.

Ageing potential: 5 years

Awards: Vini Buoni d'Italia - La corona (2019 vintage) | I Vini di Veronelli - Two stars (2016 vintage)

As seen in The Independent - an incredibly fresh and fragrant award-winning Vermentino, with hints of lemon, pears and minerals. Mundus Vini Gold

"From the best wine white wine-producing area of Sardinia...[it] has a fuller style, with lovely flavours of lemons, pears that really sing and dance on the palate; quite possibly the best vermentino I’ve tasted in a while." - The Independent (24 July 2020)

"Spèra" means "beam of light" in the dialect of Northern Sardinia, where this fabulous wine is from. As the name suggests, it is incredibly bright and fresh, with flavours of zingy lemon tempered by some minerality. It's exactly what you would expect from Vermentino, Sardinia's signature white grape.

Winemaking

The grapes for this wine were picked by hand in a vineyard in the foothills of the island's mountains. They were then de-stemmed and gently crushed, with the free-run juice fermented at just 12-13 °C  - a very low temperature - in stainless steel tanks. Dino Dini, the winemaker at Siddùra, uses this technique to preserve the fresh flavours of the grape. The wine was matured sur lie for a short time to develop a more complex texture.

Tasting notes

"A very attractive white with sliced lemons and pears and a hint of mineral, following through to a medium body, creamy texture and a fruity finish. Rich yet lively. Drink now." - James Suckling 92 points.

"A skein of fragrant ground spice winds through finely meshed flavors of lychee and guava in this lithe, light-bodied white, while a subtle undertow of salty mineral leads to a mouthwatering finish. Elegant. Drink now through 2025." - Alison Napjus, Wine Spectator 90 points.

Ageing potential: 5-6 years.

Awards

Concours International De Lyon 2021 - Gold Medal (2019 vintage) | Sakura Awards 2021 - Gold Medal (2019 vintage) | Wine Spectator - 90 points (2019 vintage) | Gilbert & Gaillard 2020 - Gold Medal (2019 vintage) | Mundus Vini Spring Tasting 2020 - Gold Medal (2019 vintage) | Decanter World Wine Awards 2019 - Bronze Medal (2018 vintage) | Berliner Wein Trophy 2019 - Gold Medal (2018 vintage) | James Suckling - 92 pts (2018 vintage)