Culturonda® Wine

12 routes to the cultural history of South Tyrol's wine

South Tyrol is a classic 'small but beautiful' winegrowing region. In fact, although it accounts for only 0.7 percent of Italy's total vineyard area, its wines enjoy a high profile way out of proportion to its size and are showered with top awards year upon year. The South Tyrolean Wine Route meanders from Nalles/Nals to Bolzano/Bozen and on across the rolling vinescape towards the south past picturesque wine villages and magnificent wine estates as far as the region’s southern border. These vineyards comprise 85 percent of South Tyrol's total.

In the cooler, peripheral vineyard areas in the Valle Isarco/Eisacktal and the Valle Venosta/Vinschgau delicious, fruity white wines are grown at elevations reaching 3,300 feet/1,000 metres. Here the ripening season extends well into the autumn when warm days alternating with cool nights result in wines with intense aromas, vibrant acidity and Mediterranean mellowness. Lagrein, Vernatsch and Gewürztraminer – three grape varieties originally from South Tyrol – have become emblematic for South Tyrol's wine culture. For decades trials have been carried out throughout the region's central valleys to determine which grape variety performs best on which soil and in which microclimate. The provincial agricultural experimental centre Laimburg near Ora/Auer explores the principles of sustainable winegrowing. Nothing is left to chance. Apart from enjoying a 'Glasl Wein', as the South Tyroleans put it, in congenial company. Even the 'Wine Elves' from local legends would have had nothing against that!

South Tyrol is one of Europe's oldest winegrowing regions and it is where the Romans learnt how to store and transport wine in containers made of wooden staves held together by iron hoops. From the early Middle Ages monasteries in southern Germany established wine estates in South Tyrol. The Great Vine at Hampton Court is none other than South Tyrol's native Vernatsch, though South Tyrol has its equivalent, a 350 year-old vine called 'Versoaln' in the village of Prissiano/Prissian between Merano/Meran and Bolzano. It still yields up to 800 bottles of white wine per year. Old grape varieties are preserved from extinction in the Botanical Gardens of Trauttmansdorff Castle in Merano.

Wine is steeped in culture in South Tyrol. Culturonda® Wine intends to pass on this unique cultural experience and has selected twelve themes with three experiences to savour in each. Wine enthusiasts who wish to go beyond simply enjoying wine and become acquainted with the history and stories behind its vineyards and cellars will find Culturonda® Wine a useful and succinct introduction to South Tyrol's diverse cultivated and cultural landscape.