Biography
Long ago, in the year 1140, the Augustinian canons of the monastery of Klosterneuberg in Austria, near Vienna, founded the Abbey of Novacella in Varna, just outside of what is now the city of Bressanone, an edifice with a long history and rich culture, an extraordinary library and wine cellars with many centuries of active life.
The Augustinians taught the local inhabitants and the entire Adige river valley as far as San Michele how to reclaim the land and cultivate the vine. The area around Bressanone is the northernmost viticultural area of Italy and one of the highest, in altitude, in all of Europe; weather conditions are extreme for the cultivation of the vine, and every year the growers must challenge nature in order to obtain grapes of real quality. Winters are particularly lengthy and harsh, but there are nonetheless excellent conditions for the cultivation of certain aromatic grape varieties which give fragrant, tasty, and mineral-flavored wines. Here in the steepest and best-exposed vineyards, those with a southern exposure, such white grape varieties as Sylvaner, Kerner, Gewürztraminer, Müller-Thurgau, and Veltiner have been planted for a total of 50 acres under vine. The grapes of the best vineyard plots are selected, with rigid criteria, every year and utilized for the line of high-level wines called “Praepositus”. Among these, Kerner merits special mention: a characteristic straw yellow color with green highlights, aromas of anise and pine resin, dry and mineral flavors. The Gewürztraminer, as well, is strikingly rich in aromas of spicy, tropical fruit.
The Abbey of Novacella, in addition to its properties in Varna, owns the Tenuta Mariaheim in the center of the city of Bolzano, an area with ideal conditions for the Lagrein grape, noted for wines with a purplish ruby color, ample aromas, and superior fullness and texture.
In Cornaiano, near the outskirts of Bolzano, at the confluence of the Adige and Isarco rivers, the Abbey owns the Markholf estate where Pinot Noir and Moscato Rosa are cultivated. From the former variety elegant and supple wines are produced, while the latter is noted for its rose-tinted color, its explosive fragrance of dried roses and spices, and its sweet and caressing palate.
Long ago, in the year 1140, the Augustinian canons of the monastery of Klosterneuberg in Austria, near Vienna, founded the Abbey of Novacella in Varna, just outside of what is now the city of Bressanone, an edifice with a long history and rich culture, an extraordinary library and wine cellars with many centuries of active life.
The Augustinians taught the local inhabitants and the entire Adige river valley as far as San Michele how to reclaim the land and cultivate the vine. The area around Bressanone is the northernmost viticultural area of Italy and one of the highest, in altitude, in all of Europe; weather conditions are extreme for the cultivation of the vine, and every year the growers must challenge nature in order to obtain grapes of real quality. Winters are particularly lengthy and harsh, but there are nonetheless excellent conditions for the cultivation of certain aromatic grape varieties which give fragrant, tasty, and mineral-flavored wines. Here in the steepest and best-exposed vineyards, those with a southern exposure, such white grape varieties as Sylvaner, Kerner, Gewürztraminer, Müller-Thurgau, and Veltiner have been planted for a total of 50 acres under vine. The grapes of the best vineyard plots are selected, with rigid criteria, every year and utilized for the line of high-level wines called “Praepositus”. Among these, Kerner merits special mention: a characteristic straw yellow color with green highlights, aromas of anise and pine resin, dry and mineral flavors. The Gewürztraminer, as well, is strikingly rich in aromas of spicy, tropical fruit.
The Abbey of Novacella, in addition to its properties in Varna, owns the Tenuta Mariaheim in the center of the city of Bolzano, an area with ideal conditions for the Lagrein grape, noted for wines with a purplish ruby color, ample aromas, and superior fullness and texture.
In Cornaiano, near the outskirts of Bolzano, at the confluence of the Adige and Isarco rivers, the Abbey owns the Markholf estate where Pinot Noir and Moscato Rosa are cultivated. From the former variety elegant and supple wines are produced, while the latter is noted for its rose-tinted color, its explosive fragrance of dried roses and spices, and its sweet and caressing palate.
Long ago, in the year 1140, the Augustinian canons of the monastery of Klosterneuberg in Austria, near Vienna, founded the Abbey of Novacella in Varna, just outside of what is now the city of Bressanone, an edifice with a long history and rich culture, an extraordinary library and wine cellars with many centuries of active life.
The Augustinians taught the local inhabitants and the entire Adige river valley as far as San Michele how to reclaim the land and cultivate the vine. The area around Bressanone is the northernmost viticultural area of Italy and one of the highest, in altitude, in all of Europe; weather conditions are extreme for the cultivation of the vine, and every year the growers must challenge nature in order to obtain grapes of real quality. Winters are particularly lengthy and harsh, but there are nonetheless excellent conditions for the cultivation of certain aromatic grape varieties which give fragrant, tasty, and mineral-flavored wines. Here in the steepest and best-exposed vineyards, those with a southern exposure, such white grape varieties as Sylvaner, Kerner, Gewürztraminer, Müller-Thurgau, and Veltiner have been planted for a total of 50 acres under vine. The grapes of the best vineyard plots are selected, with rigid criteria, every year and utilized for the line of high-level wines called “Praepositus”. Among these, Kerner merits special mention: a characteristic straw yellow color with green highlights, aromas of anise and pine resin, dry and mineral flavors. The Gewürztraminer, as well, is strikingly rich in aromas of spicy, tropical fruit.
The Abbey of Novacella, in addition to its properties in Varna, owns the Tenuta Mariaheim in the center of the city of Bolzano, an area with ideal conditions for the Lagrein grape, noted for wines with a purplish ruby color, ample aromas, and superior fullness and texture.
In Cornaiano, near the outskirts of Bolzano, at the confluence of the Adige and Isarco rivers, the Abbey owns the Markholf estate where Pinot Noir and Moscato Rosa are cultivated. From the former variety elegant and supple wines are produced, while the latter is noted for its rose-tinted color, its explosive fragrance of dried roses and spices, and its sweet and caressing palate.