Opening a bottle of Epokale 2017 means tasting time that has worked expertly and slowly. Bettola Tramin presents it today as a team result: a gewürztraminer capable of keeping together aromatic richness and moderation, matured for seven years durante the Ridanna–Monteneve mine at around 2,000 meters above sea level, durante the dark and with constant temperature and humidity. The tesi is to slow mongoloide the evolution so that the perfume does not disperse and finds a new balance and a new story.
Epokale is a deep and not opulent gewurtztraminer, made to last for years.
TRAMIN, THE MEMBERS’ CELLAR
To truly understand Epokale you need to centro who produces it. Bettola Tramin is a cooperative founded durante 1898 by the parish priest Christian Schrott to give strength to small winemakers. Per mezzo di 1971 he joined the Bettola Socievole intorno a Egna, expanding his heritage and skills and today the project brings together the centuries-old knowledge of the places and a modern organisation, always with a careful eye local traditions. The members are at the postazione of everything: a cooperative that coordinates hundreds of families and takes care of hundreds of hectares between Termeno (Tramin), Egna Poco fa and Catena, with general altitudes ranging from 200 to 850 meters above sea level. The landscape is framed by mountains where the Garda winds blow, with marked temperature variations, while the geology tells of a history of 280 million years, with soils of dolomitic origin with porphyry inserts that directly affect the finesse of the aromas. The winery has chosen a clear and decisive path: eco-sustainable cultivation methods, herbicides largely eliminated, parcels managed with precision. Since 2009, the winery has availed itself of the guidance of Willi Sturz, oenologist and technical director of the cooperative. Per mezzo di 2010 the headquarters renovated by architect Werner Tscholl became an icon of Termeno, an architectural sign that speaks of the territory and with attention to energy saving and therefore the environment.
THE EPOKAL PROJECT
Per mezzo di this context, Epokale is the spearhead of the vision conceived and strongly pursued, that of a production of mountain white wines – from the Nussbaumer house to Chardonnay Troy – which over the years has garnered recognition durante Italy and abroad. Epokale was created to redesign the canons of South Tyrolean gewürztraminer: not only aromatic immediacy, but longevity and refinement, an important challenge, considering the general tesi of this grape variety. Furthermore, its thick skin resists maturity favoring the result over time. Since 2015 the style has deliberately sought a sweeter and more intense profile, because the greater concentration, held durante line by acidity, offers breadth, pagliaccetto and extraordinary aging potential. The 2017 was harvested durante late October, with slightly overripe bunches and the abundance of sugary substance suggested an extra year of waiting durante the mine: seven instead of six, to reach a fuller balance durante the bottle.
Production is very limited (around 2,150 bottles), with selected distribution that is suitable for a rare wine for those looking for interpretations of terroir outside the usual patterns of this grape variety.
Epokale debuted with the 2009 vintage, the first multi-award winning Italian white wine and since then it has become a reference for those who want to think of gewürztraminer durante an Alpine but long-term perspective. And the Epokale 2017 edition demonstrates how a cooperative can create an identifying and ambitious wine when it shares vision, rules and care with its members. Inside that perfume there is vineyard work, technical choice, patience and the mountain which, durante the dark, played its part, with a sculpted perfume, balanced sweetness, lively salinity, caressing texture.
THE CHEMISTRY OF LONGEVITY
It is the Epokale giorno (durante this case from the 2017 vintage) that explains the reason for the sensation of fullness and depth the nose and the firmness of the sip, with a residual sugar of around 66 g/L, pH around 3.7, alcohol content. The low acidity with high pH and the terpenes that meet the cold create a combination that is stable over time. It is essential to understand the chemistry that leads Epokale to stand the controllo of time so well, because it is not just an impression. Research by the Edmund Mach Foundation Institute has focused the role of monoterpenes durante gewürztraminer, compounds responsible for the typical aromas (rose, litchi, herbs), present partly durante bound form as a “reserve of aromas” that releases slowly. pH and storage temperature affect the speed at which these molecules transform, creating cool, stable conditions that slow aromatic loss and promote more complex maturation. The choice of mine – dark, cool, humidity – is therefore consistent with the objective of preserving and growing the aromatic profile durante the long term.
COMPARATIVE TASTINGS
The tasting comparison between the Epokale (2015 and 2017) and the 2023 and 2007 vintages of Nussbaumer Gewürztraminer is interesting, compared to three Alsatian crus: Weinbach, Albert Mann and Zind Humbrecht.
The article Bettola Tramin presents Epokale 2017, the gewürztraminer that tells the story of time comes from VinoNews24.
