A small co-operative producer located in the village of Kurtatsch, also known in Italian as Cortaccia in bilingual Alto Adige. The village is located high on a sunny plateau overlooking the Etsch valley. This is a place of extraordinary beauty, surrounded by orchards, vineyards, and forests, with splendid views of the Dolomite mountains. The Cypress trees which are found throughout the area adorn the labels of Kellerei Kurtatsch wines. Their wide range is produced from grape varieties typical to the region, grown in fertile soils. These wines offer some of the best values we have found in the region.

A top producer with a small range of exquisite wines, widely admired and regularly receiving industry accolades for his products. The Peter Dipoli estate was born in 1987 when the Dipoli family bought 1.2 hectares of vines in Penon, a hamlet near the village of Kurtatsch. The vineyard was completely replanted with Sauvignon Blanc and in 1990, the first 1637 bottles of Voglar were produced.

In the following years, the estate was enlarged, with the addition of the Iugum vineyard in nearby Magré, and the purchase of an ancient rural property in Villa, near Egna, that in 1998 was restored and became the estate winery. Peter's background is in farming, and he studied viticulture, and worked for 5 years at the research station of Laimburg, before going back to his father's property with the aim of creating his own vineyard estate. Today, he is very active in the promotion of wines from Alto Adige, and is the Vice-President of the Freie Weinbauern Südtirol, (Committee of Free Winegrowers South Tyrol)

He summarises his philosophy about wine thus:
"Some years ago I put my lifelong passion for wine into practice by becoming a wine producer. I wanted to make wines that would reflect my ideas about which grape varieties to use, and about the most correct and respectful ways of turning them into wine. I believe that each grape variety should be planted in the environment that best suits it. The producer's job is to transform the grapes as naturally as they arrive from the vineyards into wines that express the characteristics of soil, habitat and growing season these grapes are a fruit of. A respect for these factors precludes all predetermined styles of wine, too often produced following momentary fashions. I am happy when consumers understand a wine to be the result of specific growing conditions, with whatever natural variabilities these may entail. Only then can they appreciate a great wine as being a unique and true expression of a grape, its territory and its producer"

The Messnerhof estate is located in the St. Peter suberb of Bolzano, and here Bernhard Pichler crafts a small range of wines from his 2.9 hectares of vines, which are located some 350m above sea level. The terrain consists of a porphyry moraine formed about 10,000 years ago during the last ice age, and has good permeability and a special ability to retain heat. It is also characterized by a high content of mineral salts, which gives the wines a characteristic mineral aroma and contributes to their longevity. Varieties grown include Lagrein, St. Magdalena, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and unusually for Alto Adige a small amount of Tempranillo.

A very small-scale producer, with just 1.5 hectares of vines, and a tiny production of just 12000 bottles per year. From this small estate, Armin and his Wife Monika manage to produce high quality single vineyard wines from Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Grauer Burgunder, and Merlot. Until recently, the Koblers sold their grapes to the local co-operative, but they wanted to make their own wine and since 2006 they have vinified their grapes themselves. These are wines of great individuality and character, which I urge you to try.

One of the star properties in my Alto Adige list, Weingut Milla is a relatively new entrant to the wine scene, yet it has already established a formidable
reputation for the quality of its 2 wines - Centa and Milla - both red Cabernet-Merlot blends - in a very short space of time, with top reviews and high scores from commentators such as Parker. The bulk of the grapes for these wines are grown in the 3 hectare Milla vineyard, which nestles on the edge of the valley floor below the village of Kurtatsch, which itself sits on a plateau overlooking the Etsch valley below. Most of Milla is at an altitude of about 230m above sea level, although parts of it, and some other small scattered holdings, are on steep slopes risng to altitudes between 350m and 450m. Despite being relatively small, Milla embraces a wide variety of different terrains and soil types, ranging from light chalky soils in flatter areas through to heavier clay soils on the slopes.

Pomella uses no herbicides or artificial fertilizers, and operates some measures to stimulate the soil life in the vineyard.

Both Milla and Centa are made using a broadly similar approach - the constituent varietals are made as individual wines, Merlot being the earliest ripening grape, normally harvested in late September, with Cabernet Franc in early October and Cabernet Sauvignon in mid October. Each wine is individually aged oak prior to blending, when storage in stainless takes over. The wine is further aged in bottle before release. The results from these classic Bordeaux grape varieties are nothing short of outstanding, and if Pomella's intention was to create Alto Adige's answer to fine red Bordeaux then I would argue that he has succeeded. Given that the two wines are so similar in terms of terroir and vinification, what are the differences between them? Essentially it's to do with grape selection, percentage of new wood, and maturation times - see the individual wine descriptions for details. Whilst making comparisons with Bordeaux estates, it's tempting to think of Milla as a "first" wine and Centa as a "second" wine - but in reality it's a little more complex than that. Bordeaux second wine selections tend to be made after the wine is made, according to quality criteria, whereas Centa and Milla are different from the outset and the production processes are subtly different for each. Both are fabulous, but in different ways.

Top tip - if you're ever in Alto Adige and need somewhere to stay, Pomella and his brother also run the stunning in the heart of the delightful village of Kurtatsch - this small intimate hotel is a truly exceptional place to stay and well worth seeking out for the pampering one receives, the pool, the fantastic restaurants (2 of them) and comfortable quality accomodation with fabulous views - and of course the wine!