St. Michael Eppan winery, established in 1907, occupies an important place in South Tyrolean oenology, with its 340 partners and its 380 hectares of vineyards. Despite the large amount of undeniable value labels, I do not think I stray too far from the truth by stating that the success of this winery is still linked to its line of reserves branded Sanct Valentin. This line was born at the end of the 80s from the mind of winemaker Hans Terzer who, from the first day of his inauguration (1978), had never renounced the idea of raising the quality of wine production under his direction.
Today Terzer, faithful to his mantra “quality knows no compromises”, moves even higher the peak of excellence, enriching St. Michael Eppan wine proposal with a brand-new wine line: Sanct Valentin/The Wine Collection. These are, in essence, very few bottles of Sanct Valentin wines, forgotten to age in the cellar, inspected after at least 10 years of aging, tasted, refilled (from cask), re-plugged (with new corks) and signed by the same winemaker only if considered to be in an excellent maintenance state.
The Chardonnay tasted (2009 vintage), checked by the cellar on 20 October 2020, moved its first steps in mid-September 2009 with the selection and manual harvesting of grapes from vineyards in Appiano (450-550 meters above sea level) exposed to South/East and South/West. The grapes, after the soft-crushing, had carried out both the alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in barriques and tonneaux, where the wine had remained to ripen, in contact with yeast, for about a year, before being aged for another eight months in steel tanks and finally bottled.
The final result is this wine, straw yellow with golden reflections, with initial scents of peach in syrup, salted caramel, chamomile and bread crust, followed by sultanas, vanilla, chlorophyll and dolomitic botany, with a hint of burnt bone and toasted hazelnut. The taste, rather articulate, is mainly soft, with an evident sapid-almond component balanced by good freshness and a hint of spiciness (white pepper), with an olfactory return of the burnt bone, salted caramel and sultanas that accompany the sip until a long closing.
Rating: 93/100
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