Tasting Report: Mountain High Pinots from Italy

I did a quick tasting over the weekend of a dozen pinot noirs – blauburgunder – from Alto Adige, Italy, and it was one of the most fun tastings I did this summer, so far. It wasn’t because they were the best wines or the most powerful or structured. I regularly drink top Burgundy and just the other night I had a 1999 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux at a dinner with friends from Hong Kong. But it was a fascinating tasting, reviewing a dozen pinots from Italy’s mountainous wine regions.  

The 13 pinots I tasted blind on Saturday were a whole different thing compared to top Burgundy, and that’s why they were delicious and satisfying. Some had a more minerally or dried fruit character that suggests that they used different clones from Burgundy as well as the unique minerally and mountainous soils of Alto Adige. Others were more fruit-forward and structured like pinots form places such as California’s Russian River. Even others were slatey and intense like pinots from New Zealand’s Central Otago. Anyway, I enjoyed the diversity and precision of the wines and they were so drinkable. 

“Our pinot noirs have a unique style because of our unique vine growing area,” admitted Andi Punter of Franz Haas Wines. “No one makes pinots like ours.”

Indeed, below are the wines I tasted including one from Trentino.

Photos from top to bottom: a bottle of Tiefenbrunner Pinot Nero Süditrol Linticlarus Riserva 2013, a bottle of Franz Haas Pinot Noir Alto Adige; and two bottles of pinot noirs 

-James Suckling, CEO 

Tasting Notes

Tiefenbrunner Pinot Nero Alto Adige Linticlarus Riserva 2013
Country Italy
Region Trentino-Alto Adige
Vintage 2013
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Tiefenbrunner Pinot Nero Alto Adige Turmhof 2014
Country Italy
Region Northeast
Vintage 2014
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Franz Haas Pinot Noir Alto Adige 2013
Country Italy
Region Northeast
Vintage 2013
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Cantina Terlan Pinot Nero Südtirol Montigl Riserva 2013
Country Italy
Region Northeast
Vintage 2013
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Alois Lageder Pinot Nero Südtirol Krafuss 2012
Country Italy
Region Northeast
Vintage 2012
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Cantina San Paolo Pinot Nero Südtirol 2015
Country Italy
Region Northeast
Vintage 2015
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Colterenzio Pinot Nero Südtirol St. Daniel Riserva 2013
Country Italy
Region Northeast
Vintage 2013
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Cantina Andrian Pinot Nero Südtirol Anrar Riserva 2013
Country Italy
Region Northeast
Vintage 2013
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S. Michael-Eppan Pinot Nero Südtirol Sanct Valentin 2012
Country Italy
Region Northeast
Vintage 2012
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Abbazia di Novacella Pinot Nero Südtirol Praepositus Riserva 2012
Country Italy
Region Northeast
Vintage 2012
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Abbazia di Novacella Pinot Nero Südtirol 2015
Country Italy
Region Northeast
Vintage 2015
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S. Michael-Eppan Pinot Nero Südtirol 2015
Country Italy
Region Northeast
Vintage 2015
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Bollini Pinot Nero Trentino Riserva 2013
Country Italy
Region Trentino-Alto Adige
Vintage 2013
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