Porphyr 2009

"Three selected sites with vines that are almost a hundred years old and so deliver highly concentrated chewy tannins form the basis of our Lagrein Selection. The wine is fermented and aged in barriques. That gives our Lagrein Porphyry, which owes its name to the bedrock on which the region’s vineyards stand, a complex and intensive nose, although the wine remains compact and distinctive on the palate."
Rudi Kofler

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Wine

  • Doc denomination: Alto Adige
  • Variety: 100% Lagrein
  • History of the variety:
  • Year: 2009
  • Bottles produced: 21,740
  • Yield: 42 hl/ha
  • Quality line: The selections

Vinification

  • Description:

    Manual harvest and selection of the grapes; destemming followed by slow must fermentation at a controlled temperature and gentle agitation of the must in stainless steel tanks; malolactic fermentation and aging in barriques for 18 months using one third new barrels; blending three months before bottling.

  • Bottling date: 2011-06-16

Production area

  • Name: Terlano
  • Municipality: Terlano
  • Altitude: 250 - 500 m a. s. l.
  • Slope: 5 - 35 %
  • Orientation: South - Southwest

Wine character

  • Color: deep impenetrable ruby with violet reflections
  • Smell: This Lagrein selection is a multifaceted wine. It reveals aromas reminiscent of morello cherry and bilberry, with notes of licorice, coffee beans, vanilla, clove and black tea, which makes it spicy and fruity at the same time.
  • Taste: The wine is harmonious on the palate with very compact and concentrated, multilayered flavors combining juicy fruit with spicy, peppery elements and a slightly sweet note of dark chocolate rounded off with silky tannins.

Simple pairings

Perfect with pink roasted saddle of venison in a walnut crust with root vegetables and red cabbage, rib of beef braised in Lagrein with mixed polenta and baby vegetables, or braised calf’s cheek with Lagrein sauce on celeriac foam.

  • Vintage

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    • The optimal conditions for the growth of vegetation presaged an extraordinary vintage. After the cool winter rich in precipitation, there followed an extremely mild and warm spring which helped give the vegetation a boost – by April, the quickly sprouting shoots and a premature blossoming already indicated that harvesting could begin early. The summer months, too, were characterized by a dry climate and average temperatures.

  • Soil

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    • Terlano is a wine-growing village located halfway between South Tyrol’s main towns of Merano and Bolzano where the Adige flows through a wide valley in a south-easterly direction. The village and vineyards nestle against the red porphyry rock of Monte Tschöggl on the orographically left side of the valley.

      With sites located at elevations between 250 and 900 meters above sea-level, choosing the right variety is a challenge. The lower sites are better suited to Lagrein, Cabernet and other heavy reds, while Pinot Noir and the white wines are more at home at the higher and therefore cooler levels.

      Soils: sandy-stony, well-drained soils
      Site area: 150 ha
      Vine age: 8-60 years
      Vine density: 3,500-7,000
      Yield: 42-63 hl/ha
      Number of vintners: 130

  • Climate

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    • The high peaks of the main Alpine chain protect South Tyrol from the Atlantic winds and cold northerlies, while the region benefits from the Mediterranean climate from the south. That explains the pronounced differences between day- and night-time temperatures, which are the key to full maturity and elegant wines.

      To the south, a number of mountain massifs like the Adamello also have a protective function. As a result, annual precipitation is only about one third of the average for the southern Alpine foothills, and the number of hours of sunshine is higher. The climatic conditions are not unlike those to be found in wine-growing areas like the Swiss Canton Valais.

      When the sun rises behind the mountains east of Terlano on one of the year’s 300 sunny days, it is already high in the sky as the wine-growing area has a westerly to south westerly exposure. The lower atmospheric density permits more direct solar irradiation with less diffuse sunlight. That increases the difference between the slopes on the sunny and shady sides of the valley.

      Microclimate in Terlano
      Continental climate (Cfa Köppen-Geiger)

      Annual sunshine hours: ø 2135
      Maximum temperatures: 36,7 °C
      Average temperatures: 12,9 °C
      Minimum temperatures: -10,7°C
      Annual percipitation: ø 558 mm
      Average global radiation: 150,1 W/m²
      Winds:
      - North foehn: cool and dry down-slope wind
      - Ora: valley wind system from the south, bringing in air from the Po Valley

Porphyr

Prizes

  • falstaff 2012: 91 points
  • Le guide de L'Espresso - I Vini d'Italia 2013: 4 bottles
  • I Vini di Veronelli 2013: 3 stars
  • Gambero Rosso - Vini d'Italia 2013: 2 black glasses
  • Duemilavini/Bibenda 2013: 5 grapes
  • ViniBuoni d'Italia 2013: 4 stars
  • Guida ai migliori vini d'Italia - D'Agata & Comparini 2013: 91 points

Technical data

  • Alcohol content: 14.0 % vol
  • Residual sugar: 2.8 g/l
  • Acidity: 5.7 g/l

Aging

  • Storage advice: Cool storage at constant temperatures, high level of humidity, good ventilation and as little light as possible
  • Cellar temperature: 10 - 15 °C
  • Minimum maturity: 6 years
  • Serving temperature: 18 °C

Suggested glass

Bordeaux glass

Bordeaux glass