Ferruccio Carlotto. Lagrein Riserva

Alto Adige DOC
Grape: Lagrein

Blue damson fruit, clove and black pepper, fresh and unforced.  So much colour considering it spent just 10 days on the skin, there is something gloriously unhurried about this wine.  13.5%

Ferruccio Carlotto producer page

Carlotto first made Lagrein in 2000, now the family have a total of 1.7ha spread over 3 plots: Furgl (planted in 2006), Raut (1997 & 2003) and Tschint (2011).  Their vines are grown on alluvial soils, on Pergolas at a density of 6500 vines per hectare.  This area, known collectively as the Auer, is famed for Lagrein.

The grapes are hand-picked, de-stemmed, crushed and gravity fed into steel tanks.  The fermentation takes about 10 days, the cap (skins) being punched down twice daily, it is a gentle process with no artifice.  The wine goes through malolactic conversion and is matured in botti, and some used barrique, for a year, before being assembled and held in steel for 6 months, then bottled without filtration.