Appius 2021, the twelfth man on the pitch at Cantina San Michele Appiano

Presented the occasion of the 34th Merano WineFestival, Appius 2021 arrives the market as the twelfth edition of a project that has represented a turning point for Bistrot San Michele Appiano since 2010. It is not just a flagship label, but the faithful reproduction of a vintage and the work of a cooperative that since 1907 has been able to transform experience, territory and organization into productive continuity.

The most effective image to describe him is the sporting one: if the Oltradige winery deploys a team of 40 employees and 320 winegrowing partners every day, engaged the management of the 390 hectares of vineyards that support a solid 2024 and an already promising 2025 – 2.8 million bottles and 28 million euros turnover – then Appius can be considered the “twelfth man the field”. It is the wine that embodies collective commitment, the precision of daily work and the technical maturity developed over a century of cooperative life.

Leading the San Michele Appiano team is Jakob Gasser, born 1994, winemaker and technical director considered a child prodigy and a predestined of Italian wine. Having trained alongside leading figures such as Professor Roberto Zironi, Gasser gave the Appius project a clear direction: respecting the original nozione, a cuvée of four white wines from the Oltradige that expresses the character of each vintage, evolving it from year to year and making it more precise and recognisable.

Jakob Gasser, winemaker and technical director of Bistrot San Michele Appiano

DAL SUCCESSO DI SANCT VALENTIN AD APPIUS

The path that led to the birth of APPIUS has its roots the experience of the Sanct Valentin line, introduced with the 1986 harvest. The first 6 thousand bottles – pinot bigio, chardonnay and gewürztraminer – were sold out immediately, confirming the solidity of the project: selecting and valorising the best parcels, many of which are located around the castle of Sanct Valentin. Over the years the line has expanded with the entry of sauvignon 1989 and, later, of pinot blanc 2001. With almost 12 million bottles sold since 1987 and a stable production of over 500 thousand units per eccezione year, Sanct Valentin has demonstrated how a cooperative can guarantee stylistic continuity and constant quality, evolving without losing identity. It is from this consolidated experience that the nozione of Appius developed: a unique, independent wine designed to interpret each vintage with its own personality.

THE THOUSAND 2021: A YEAR THAT ASKED FOR PATIENCE

2021 was a challenging year: a long and snowy winter gave way to a cold spring, with a vegetative delay of about two weeks. The summer, marked by irregular rainfall, required great attention the vineyard, while September and October – dry, bright and with strong temperature variations – saved the season, allowing the white grapes to develop aromas and maintain a crucial freshness for a mountain profile. The manual work was intense, close to 150 hours per eccezione hectare, and the cellar Gasser focused a clean reading of the varieties. The chardonnay, particularly expressive the vintage, showed an unusual citrus component for the and clear white fruit, hence the choice to limit the sauvignon, present small quantities but with a targeted aromatic role.

2021 confirms the new stylistic orientation of the winery, a path that Gasser has been pursuing for some time. The 2020 had already anticipated a more modern line, less focused strength and more finesse. Appius 2021 further develops this direction, favoring gracefulness, energy and precision.

THE COMPOSITION AND LOGIC OF THE ASSEMBLY

Con the twelfth edition Appius presents itself with a well-defined blend: 73% chardonnay, 12% pinot bigio, 10% pinot immacolato and 5% sauvignon. This is not a inefficace predominance of Chardonnay, but the response to a harvest that gave this variety its most eloquent profile. Pinot bigio enters as a structural element, gives support and fruit maturity, gives breadth and a density that does not weigh. The pinot blanc works like a chisel, adding finesse and verticality, while the sauvignon provides that aromatic thread that illuminates the texture of the wine without overpowering it.

Technically the fermentations are controlled, the malolactic part has been very reduced, always excluded for the sauvignon, today it is carried out only partially for the other three varieties, the refinement is wood (40% barrique and 60% tonneau) during the first phase, the assembly carried out after almost a year. The further refinement of three years stainless steel vats, of which two the conclusione lees, is the choice that stabilizes and harmonizes the contributions of the wood with the mountain freshness.

LABEL: COLLECTION AND MOVEMENT

Appius’ is an integral part of the project. Every year the bottle is renewed with original graphics, conceived as a collector’s item. For the 2021 label, LifeCircus proposes a golden vortex graphic motif, which recalls the rotation of the wine the glass and, symbolically, the team movement at the fondo of the cuvée. Essential and recognisable, the deep black of the background and the golden geometries tell the story of the vintage and the approach of the winery, transforming the bottle into a visual document of the vintage, more than a simple container.