Lago di Garda 11/08 - IX - Kellerei Kaltern

Kellerei Kaltern, Kaltern (Caldaro sul strada del vino)
http://www.winecenter.it/

And so we return to Alto Adige on the last leg of our journey, coming full circle. Stopping at the stylish, modern wine center of the Kellerei Kaltern - one of Alto Adige's big growers' cooperatives - as we did on our way back home is a lot less like paying a visit to a winemaker at his winery and a lot more like walking into a big store. But if you keep that in mind and therefore aren't disappointed by the lack of personal interaction, it can certainly be interesting.

The "wine center", for all intents and purposes the cooperative's representative building is a nice place to shop at at that: light and spacious, their wide range of wines displayed individually with all the information and available for tasting at the serviced tasting bars. As with most big cooperatives, the quality of the wines varies from the simple quaffing juice to some top notch labels that regularly garner favorable attention by critics.

The region of the Lago di Caldaro largely shares the typical varieties of Alto Adige: the white Pinots, some German/Alsatian whites, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc; Schiava/Vernatsch, Lagrein, Merlot, Cabernet. A wine labelled Kalterersee Auslese (Lago di Caldaro selection) is invariably made from Vernatsch and almost as invariably light and unoffensive. If there's a Vernatsch that's worth exporting, chances are it's a St. Magdalener.

Nevertheless the Kellerei Kaltern is diverse in all categories. Of the wines worth mentioning, there are some premium whites to be had like the internationally styled Chardonnays and Sauvignons; dessert wines like the Passito are regularly acclaimed. The better Vernatsch wines like the organically farmed Solos or the single vineyard Pfarrhof can offer nice complexity. The reserve wines from Lagrein, Cabernet or Merlot, some from single vineyards, can certainly play with the big boys as well.

One may scoff at the bus loads of tourists that are brought here in late summer and autumn or the kitschy storybook atmosphere gladly cultivated by Kaltern, but a visit to this cooperative costs nothing and may yield a surprise or two. Certainly beats wine shopping at many other places I've been to.

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And so we conclude our (virtual) tour down to the Lago di Garda and back again. Where will this blog go from here? It is definitely my intention to update regularly with tasting notes, comments, articles, etc. Another travel diary is at least a few months off, but there are other producers, especially in the Valpolicella, that I could elaborate on. Anything else will be a case of 'wait and see' for me as much as for anyone else. Thanks for reading and happy holidays!