Praepositus Gewürtraminer 2018 Abbazia Di Novacella

 Abbazia di Novacella is a monastery in Alto Adige in Italy that produces very good wines. The monastery is surrounded by vineyards.

The monastery is also very beautiful and is worth a visit.

The wine series Praepositus is their prestige wine. This line shows off what the best growing areas can do with grapes. The grape for this Praepositus wine is the grape Gewürztraminer and the vintage is 2018. The ABV is one of the highest that I have seen and it goes up to 15%. The growing area is the Bressanone valley basin. The elevation sis 600-650 meters. The grapes have been grown in south to south-west. The fermantation and ageing has been done in steel tanks.
On the nose I get aromatic fruit notes. In the taste I get tropical fruit, grapefruit and some apple and gooseberry in a wonderful combination. This is an excellent wine.

Two wines from the mountains of Italy

Several mountain regions of Italy produce good wine. Two of them are Valle D'Aosta and Trentino-Alto Adige. The first bottle is the Petit Arvine from Les Cretes in Valle D'Aosta. Petit Arvine is a grape mostly planted in Switerland but also in Valle D'Aosta due to the close proximity to Switzerland. I have visited Les Cretes and it is situated in a beautiful spot in the valley of Aosta. The wine is of the vintage 2018 and the ABV is 13,5%. I get pear, lemon and some grapefruit on the taste. Powerful but quite fresh.

Next up is a wine from Trentino-Alto Adige and the producer Abbazia di Novacella or Stiftskellerei Neustift as it is known in German. The wine is Praepositus Riesling of the vintage 2017 and the ABV is 13%. There is a lovely smell on the nose. On the taste I get minerals, some peach, honey and some citrus, Lovely clean riesling.

Abbazia Novacella

Abbazia Novacella is a wine producing Augustinian Canons Regular monastery in Alto Adige in the north in Italy. The vineyards are situated at high elevation (500-800m) and this gives their white wines a freshness and acidity that is hard to beat.

I visited the monastery in 2013 and bought several wines at their wine shop. The landscape around the monastery is very beautiful and the monastery is also very beautiful. So if you go there take time to visit both the monastery and the winery.

The three wines that I bought are all white wines from 2012, so they have been stored for four years before opening them. The first wine is the Sylvaner wine made from Sylvaner grapes. The taste is of melons, citrus and some aromatic spices. Just a bit sour aftertaste, it goes very well with asian food. A really good wine.

Next wine is the Müller Thurgau made with the grapes of the same name. This wine has fresh fruity aromas in the nose. The taste is of citrus and white peaches and some sharpness in the aftertaste. A rich full wine, a very good wine.

The final wine is a Gewürztraminer. The nose is very good and the taste it is very aromatic and fruity with pears. Still crisp and fresh after four years of storage. Long aftertaste and it has aged very well. A wonderful wine.
Three very good wines from an excellent winery.

Kerner from Abbazia Novacella

I visited Abbazia Novacella, Alto Adige, Italy in 2013. It is a wonderful monastery that produces wine. For German speakers it is known as Stiftskellerei Neustift. If you have the chance visit the place. Enjoy the beautiful monastery, the amazing landscape and after that drink some wine at the monastery shop. 

  The wine that I have tried is a Kerner 2015 from Abbazia Novacella. Kerner is a child of Riesling and has some characteristics of Riesling.  This wine is fresh and tastes of pear, citrus and grapefruit. Some mineralic after taste. An excellent wine yet again from Abbazia Novacella.