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.

Heavenly wine from Abbazia Di Novacella

Abbazia Di Novacella in Alto Adige (South Tyrol) produces very fine wines. I have tasted some earlier but in 2013 I had the chance to visit the monastery and buy wine at the monastery. One wine that I bought were their white wine Praepositus Kerner from 2011. The Praepositus is their premium line. Kerner is the grape and is usually grown in German speaking countries. The smell is pleasent but the taste surprised me, especially as the alcohol level is 14% and I was expecting a very strong wine. Instead it is very elegant with an almost pear like taste with a lot of aromatic taste. A wonderful wine, unfortunately I cannot find it in Sweden.

Sardinia is a place I would like to visit and until then another wine from Sardinia. Aragosta is a white wine made from Vermentino grapes. It is of vintage 2013 and has a very good taste of apples and pears with acidity. A very good drinking wine.

Soave is a very nice place to visit and especially to see the beautiful castle. The wines from Soave classico is quite famous. I tasted the white wine Monte Tondo from 2012. It is of straw yellow colour and should be served very cold. It has a taste of apricots and some citrus. If it gets to warm it loses some of its charm.

Veltiner, Stiftskellerei Neustift Abbazia Di Novacella

Alte Adige or South Tyrol has many several good white wines as I have discovered over the last year. This time it is Stiftskellerei Nesustift Abbazia Di Novacella white wine Veltiner from 2010 that is to be tasted. I had tasted one of their red wines earlier. I get a flowery taste in the nose and that bodes well. The taste is of elderberry, some honey and lemon. Good acid and a very nice aftertaste that lingers. Very good aromatic wine.

As usual with these wine yards in South Tyrol, Stiftskellerei Neustift Abbazia Di Novacella is situated in a beautiful place.
One day I will go there for a week and visit these beautiful wineyards and monasteries.

Two Italian red rubies

When I was in Bologna the capital of food and visited a very good winestore I asked for wines that would go well with prosciutto and cheese. The salesman dissappeared into the backroom and soon came out with two different red wines. One he said was very strong and the other one was more elegant. The elegant was a Blauburgunder from Südtirol or in Italian, an Pinot Nero from Alto Adige. The man from the winestore suggested that I should start with that one first and the move on to the stronger wine. And the strong wine with a lot of taste was made with Carmenere and Melot from the Veneto region.
The Pinot Nero from 2008 is made by Stiftskellerei Neustift situated in Südtirol. Kloster Neustift. The Augustinian Canons Regular monastery Abbazia di Novacella is the producer of the wine. This monastery was founded in 1157 and someday I will visit it in real life as it looks beautiful there. The wine was elegant as the man from the wineshop said. Not as powerful as red wines can be. Very easy to drink and the taste was of red currants. Lovely even for a white wine lover as I am. Wonder if I can find their wines here in Sweden?
The next wine is a Carmenere Pui from 2007 by Inama from Veneto. Inama is a family that has been producing wines for more than forty years near Soave.Imama wineyard. Unfortunately I did not have the time to visit this wineyard when I was in Soave this year. The Carmenere Pui consists of 70% Carmenere grapes and 30% Merlot grapes and these grapes comes from Colli Berci, a line of gently volcanic hills. The look of the wine is deep red almost ruby. Smell of black cherry and the taste is very powerful and strong. Exactly as the wine salesman had said. No sour after taste as is very usual with these wines. Very good. Unfortunately this one is not availeble in Sweden either.I need to find some contacts in Italy that can ship me these wines.
Very good wines and for a Swede excellent prices. I think they were ten euros each.

The view from Soave.