Grawü
Cermes, Alto Adige
Certified Organic
The Alto Adige, when it is featured prominently at all, tends to be seen as a place of in-betweens: between the national boundaries of Austria and Italy; between its cultures; and–due to its history of cooperative winemaking–between small-scale vineyards and large-scale production. Predictably, and due also to a vast swath of international grape varieties being grown in the region, the resulting wines can themselves feel muddled and in between, showing promise but perhaps struggling to articulate themselves as clearly as many other Alpine regions.
Leave it to outsiders, then, to look at this area with an uncommon focus and intention and to deliver a clear and compelling statement on what Alpine wines can mean. Leilla Graselli, a native Italian, and Dominic Würth, who hails from Germany, have spent much of their lives working in vineyards and cellars across Italy, France, and Germany, deciding on the Sudtirol to raise their family.
Throughout, they have both sharpened their skills as winemakers while cultivating a particular voice for their work, framed through number of grape varieties, including Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Noir, and even experimental fungus-resistant grapes such as Bronner–all of which take on particular forms in the Alpine climes around Cermes, northwest of Bolzano.
As newcomers, Dominic and Leila own some but not all of their vineyards. Instead, they farm a diverse set of parcels owned by like-minded organic farmers on long-term contracts. This allows them to work a wide range of parcels and varieties, where their work seeks a natural symbiosis between the work of the vines and their maximum expression in the cellar.
Insisting on careful skin-contact, large-neutral cask for fermentation and aging, and no additions to the wines beyond small amounts of sulfur (sometimes none), the wines, whether Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Grigio, and Pinot Noir speak with one voice, combining purity, breadth, and transparency all at once. The resulting wines from this place, these people, could not be more clear.
Wines Availably
“Sole” Terre Dolomiti IGT (Chardonnay/Gewürztraminer)
Pinot Grigio Ramato Terre Dolomiti IGT
Pinot Noir Terre Dolomiti IGT
GTO Gewurztraminer *coming soon!*
PN “Roots” Pinot Noir Riserva *coming soon!*
