Wine myths: Alpine wine is all acid

The beauty of wines from the far north of Italy is their diversity. Many regions claim to offer a wide variety of wine styles, but in the Alpine wine regions of Lombardy, Alto Adige, Piemonte, Valle d’Aosta and the northernmost parts of Veneto, the sense of place and individual character is palpable. In a winery cellar in Bolzano once, I was handed a piece of rock, what looked like a large flake of slate, but pale and crystalline, glittering in the low light. It was a growth of mineral deposits, a natural buildup of minerals derived from the vineyard earth and the rocks beneath it, found inside the barrels once the wine had vinified and matured. I had never seen evidence so clear and tangible that terroir is not just a word—it is a physical manifestation of the locality of a vineyard and how the powerful vines within it extract what they need from their environment.

This is how vines survive in these most extreme of places, so high in altitude, so wildly disparate in temperature from day to night, season to season. They’ve evolved and adapted in their unique regions to take what they can from the short, hot summers and the snow-capped winters. Drinking a Lagrein, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was partially Gewurtztraminer for all its fruity, floral, rose petal aromatics. A Trollinger’s off-dry touch of sugar comes as something of a surprise. Glera, grown in Veneto, or Petite Arvine in Valle d’Aosta, use their sun-ripened sweetness to full effect in beautifully balanced sparkling wines. In all the Alpine regions, Kerner has become popular with winemakers who want a decadent burst of Starburst aromatics. Acidity is a natural occurrence for cool climate wines, but that’s not all this fascinating region has to offer.