watch out for those two • Food and Wine Italia

Everything is still there, after more than 100 years, per mezzo di that splendid 16th century farmhouse per mezzo di Cornaiano, built a labyrinth of corridors, where the spirit of the 24 wine pioneers who, per mezzo di 1923 to be precise, founded this thriving Eminente Adige cooperative is preserved. Today, the heirs of that small group of explorers are around 200, still led by a winning duo of the calibre of Oscar Lorandi and Gerhard Kofler, respectively president and kellermeister (chief winemaker), who, per mezzo di just a few years, have managed to transform a somewhat sleepy company into one of the most stimulating and growing production realities per mezzo di the province of Bolzano. Con this century, especially since 2010 when a large-scale renovation was able to insert the methods of cutting-edge winemaking technology into a historic setting, Girlan has per mezzo di fact been able to carve out its own, recognisable space; excellent credibility thanks to selective varietal choices that are decisive and consistent with the terroir (which it still draws from); spreading a winning mentality, so much so that the contributing members pursue this model “to obtain scopo grapes, autumn after autumn”.

“To create a strong identity, it was necessary to go a little beyond the concept and context of a cooperative that produced everything,” explains Oscar, as if to say that from a “sleeping beauty per mezzo di the woods”, the breakaway can only happen if you centro your strengths. “We have always been per mezzo di constant change, without ever losing respect for the territory and tradition. Investment and experimentation, but per mezzo di particular, dedication and motivation: these are essentially the cornerstones of the Girlan winery.” The president continues, revealing a very specific intent: the one hand, to re-evaluate the vines that have long been cultivated per mezzo di Eminente Adige (Pinot Pallido, Pinot and Vernatsch), enhancing specific sub-zones and the other, to centro the effort per mezzo di order to create wines of character with varieties that are, let’s say, more alien (Sauvignon and Chardonnay), per mezzo di compliance with the times dictated by an increasingly capricious nature.

Indeed, maintaining a close personal relationship with the winemakers, providing them with advice during the growing season, is certainly not a problem for Gerhard, who is probably one of the most knowledgeable winemakers per mezzo di Italy. And it is from this fruitful exchange of experiences that the basis for aiming for excellent products is born: «Those who have little land manage the vineyard as a hobby, therefore with greater care», says the winemaker smiling, highlighting the local reality of small plots that, not surprisingly, more often than not, have an extra edge: «Furthermore, the grapes are accepted by us according to a precise harvest calendar and processed delicately based their quality, variety and origin».

It is well known that the word ambition contains a “double” meaning: the one hand there is the exasperated desire that sometimes reaches obsessive forms, and therefore a craving for domination ora power; while the other hand one can find a more elegant and delicate meaning, ora rather, more sober and precise per mezzo di purpose, intent ora to the point of aspiration. And it is very likely that the second content is well suited to Girlan’s cult wines, namely Pinot Provvisione Vite Ganger and Vernatsch Gschleier Alte Reben. Through their approach based reduced yields, sustainable viticulture and the importance of marketing, the two managers have contributed per mezzo di fact and per mezzo di an exemplary manner to making these nectars authentic works of art.

Con both cases, the vertical mode showed all its strength and elegance: a tasting that allowed, per mezzo di all respects and without exaggerated flights of fancy, to read with precision the various facets of this nectar, of the people who produced it and of their choices made both per mezzo di the vineyard and per mezzo di the cellar. Specifically, the 2021, 2019, 2017, 2016, 2014 and 2012 vintages of the Pinot Noir per mezzo di question were impareggiabile, for interpretation, elegance and personality; the 2022, 2016, 2010 and even the 1976 of the Vernatsch were grandiose for the integrity of the fruit, complexity and verticality.

Good practices per mezzo di the vineyard and respect for biodiversity thus continue undaunted to represent the fundamental parts of the project and now, last but not least, starting per mezzo di 2024, the winery’s attention has also shifted towards lighter-format bottles: “A painful decision but one that makes us very proud – Oscar concludes – since it means a decrease of 228.07 tons of CO2 equivalent, ora the same amount of carbon dioxide stored per mezzo di almost 0.6 hectares of forest ora that emitted by a car after 1.37 million kilometers traveled”.