Bozen winery
Something is happening in Bolzano. The whole city seems to be in motion. With Bozen winery the new Cantina Bolzano has a new benchmark. Visible from afar, the cube with the stylized bronze vine leaf dominates the mountains north of the South Tyrolean capital.
However, most of the winery was built underground in the hill and the roof was planted with terraced PIWI vines. Thus the huge cellar is almost invisibly integrated into the landscape.
The inhabitants of Bolzano already call it "The cellar in the vineyard". Approximately 20.000 square meters on four floors now offer enough space for the impressive variety of nearly 40 different wine specialties. Because diversity has always been the specialty of South Tyrolean winemakers. Especially to the Bozen winery with its 224 members, who proudly define themselves as winegrowers.
They cultivate their vines carefully, sustainably and close to nature on a carpet of hundreds of plots with different soils. The variety of the soil varies from fertile glacial moraine gravel, which has been carried away from the Dolomites by the Adige, Isarco and Talfer rivers over the centuries, to volcanic porphyry in various microclimates. Some of them even in organic farming. In total there are more than 350 hectares. Today Kellerei Bozen is one of the largest wine cooperatives in South Tyrol and has been one of the best wineries in Italy for many years.
It all began in 1908, when a handful of winemakers from the municipality of Gries came together to cultivate and market the Lagrein grape, the most cultivated in the Adige Valley. In 1930, eighteen winegrowers around St. Magdalenerberg founded another cooperative of winegrowers whose aim was to make Eisacktaler Vernatsch's St. Magdalener wine better known.
In 2001 the two small cooperatives merged to form the “Kellerei Bozen”. To date, the best sites are mostly distributed in these two areas. For this reason, the Cantina di Bolzano (Kellerei Bozen) it is known far beyond South Tyrol for its St. Magdalener and Lagrein, which have received many awards.
There is also a variety of excellent white wines. Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Goldmuskateller and many other elegant and mineral specialties from 15 different grape varieties, in different categories, from cheap entry wines to wonderful single-variety wines, which sometimes come from dizzying altitudes, because some plots of land are found there at 900 meters above sea level.
Names like Taber Riserva, Huck am Bach, Moar, Mockhof or Otto Graf Huyn make the hearts of many wine lovers beat faster. There are awards practically every year. At home and abroad. Winemaker Stephan Filippi and his team are responsible for these successes. Together with managing director Klaus Sparer, he has formed an ingenious and successful duo since the late 80s.
It will be interesting to see what is still possible now, as Filippi now has room for the first time to expand each delivery of grapes from the many vineyards in even more detail and thoughtfulness. In the new cellar, which by the way was built according to the “Klimahaus standard” - with solar panels, heat pumps and shading, as well as natural cooling in the mountains - gravity is used on the four floors.
Most mechanical processes, such as pumping, are eliminated because grapes and musts are gently processed in the natural flow. There are steel tanks or barrels suitable for each site and wine. The perfectionist Stephan Filippi can be happy. We also wine lovers.