Lagrein Steinraffler Hofstätter 2016

This wine is obtained by a careful selection of Lagrein grapes. The Steinraffler estate provides near perfect conditions for this native Alto Adige/South Tyrolean vine to thrive. In 1990 a portion of these vineyards was set apart to re-introduce a variety which had almost become forgotten in Alto Adige - Lagrein with short grape stems, grafted onto low vigour rootstocks and trained using the guyot trellising system. The grapes are de-stemmed, after which the must is fermented together with the skins for approx. 10 days. In the final phase the temperature is allowed to rise a little in order to extract as much colour and flavour as possible. This is a wine of unusual contrasts - on the one hand full-bodied and concentrated while on the other, time and again tasters are surprised at its positive rusticity combined with elegance. It is enormously deep in colour, dark garnet and almost black in the centre. Earthy, minerally and spicy on the nose, the fruit initially lurks in the background, then develops to form a complex aroma of ripe black plums. The spiciness follows through on the palate with the assertive complex mineral character once again emerging on the finish. Contains sulphites. Produced by WEINGUT J. HOFSTÄTTER - Rathausplatz, 7 - 39040, Tramin (BZ) - Alto Adige - Italy.

The producer

For a century, the name Hofstatter has been associated by connoisseurs with a producer of excellent wines in Alto Adige. It was Josef Hofstatter who laid the foundations on which the company has been built. He was actually a blacksmith, but he also produced home-made wine for his wife, Maria. Producing home-made wine was, in fact, quite common at the time. His love of wine came from these origins. It was not long before he abandoned his profession to dedicate himself with passion, talent and common sense to wine-making. And so, before long Josef Hofstatter wines became famous in Italy and abroad with a client base that gets larger year by year. After the death of Josef in 1942, the company passed on to his descendant Konrad Oberhofer and his wife, Luise. Konrad Oberhofer was perfectly aware of the potential of the family's vines. He was one of the first in Alto Adige to begin harvesting and making-wine separately, vine by vine, and to put these wines on the market, not as an anonymous product, but as wine with different denominations (the "Crus"). In 1959 Konrad's daughter, Sieglinde, married the wine-maker Paolo Foradori, whose family had been successfully dedicated to wine-making at Mazon near Egna for decades. With this marriage the best vineyards in Bassa Atesina were united. Termeno and Mazon therefore became the foundations on which, today more than ever, the company and the family stand. Management of the vineyards and the cellars has now been passed on to the fourth generation, Martin Foradori, whose young man's impulses and desire for innovation draw on nearly a century of experience.

Best with

Red meats, game, venison and cheeses.

How to serve it

Serve at 18° C in a transparent crystal glass.

How to keep

If conserved properly it may last on average from 5-6 years: the bottle should be conserved in a cool and dark cellar.