Tòr-iffic

Lageder “Tòr Löwengang” 2004 Pinot Bianco Haberlehof (Alto Adige) – Stunning, intense and pure. Dried white winter fruit ground to a micropowder, with powerful glacial minerality and a long, vibrant finish. Really amazing.

The Alto Adige is one of the most beautiful wine regions on the planet, with sheer, ice-capped mountains and cliffs sheltering warm valleys, and vines trussed up steep hillsides; some of these sites may well require a Sherpa at harvest time. Since there’s no real restriction on what can and can’t be made under the appellation laws, there’s no signature identity of the region except the one you might expect: a stern, mineral-driven austerity indicative of both the climate and the hybrid Italian/Austrian culture. When it fails, one is merely left with a severe, overly-restrained wine. When it succeeds, as in the rest of the Germanic wine world, it succeeds brilliantly. This wine, from older (for pinot bianco) vines at 1500 feet and aged with the very slightest touch of new wood (which here shows more oxidative than flavor-deforming), is an unquestioned success. Importer: Lageder USA. Alcohol: 13%. Web: http://www.lageder.com/