St. Michael Eppan winery, established in 1907, occupies an important place in South Tyrolean enology, with its 340 partners and its 380 hectares of vineyards. Although it boasts various labels of undeniable value, it is not wrong to state this cellar fame is still currently linked to its Sanct Valentin branded Reserves. These labels were conceived, at the end of the 80s, by wine maker Hans Terzer who, from the first day of his stay in the winery (1978), never stopped lulling the idea of raising the winery production quality.
Nowaday Terzer, true to his slogan “quality knows no compromises”, moves the level of excellence even higher, enriching the proposal of St. Michael Eppan with the “Sanct Valentin/The Wine Collection” line. These are, in essence, very few bottles of Sanct Valentin wines inspected after at least 10 years of aging, tasted and, if considered in excellent condition, refilled (from cask), re-corked (with new corks) and signed by the same winemaker.
This Weissburgunder, for example, was selected and checked on October 20, 2020. Before being a TWC it is a Sanct Valentin wine made from a South-South/East facing vineyard in Appiano Monte, between 450 and 600 meters above sea level. After the vineyard selection and the manual harvesting, the grapes, gently pressed, have carried out alcoholic and malolactic fermentation half in barriques and tonneaux, and half in large oak barrels. After a year the masses were united and the wine was kept in steel for another eight months, before the long bottle aging.
This 2008 vintage shows a beautiful straw yellow glyceric and consistent color, with opening smells of crust of bread, mown grass and pink grapefruit. Slowly the nose turns towards tropical references (mango and pineapple), gooseberry and chamomile, helichrysum and elder, with final brushstrokes of toasted hazelnut and vanilla. The mouthfeel is savory, balanced by a good acidity, while slowly the softness and glycerin develop themselves in the oral cavity, accompanied by a boisée return which leaves space to a long final persistence on slight sultana hints.
Rating: 91/100
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