HOFSTÄTTER
Located in a grand 16th century edifice, originally built for the Austrian
Imperial post coaches, the Hofstätter winery also once housed the
‘Schwarzer Adler’ inn belonging to Martin Foradori’s great aunt. Josef
Hofstätter made his first wines in the inn’s cellars until his nephew took over
the estate in 1942; he was the very first in South Tyrol to keep separate the
grapes harvested in individual sites and name the resulting wines after the
respective vineyards. In 1959, Paolo Foradori married into the family from
an old-established family of winegrowers in the Adige Valley that owned
vineyards in superb locations on the eastern side of the valley opposite
Tramin. Since then these vineyards have been administered together with
those on the Tramin side of the valley in the family company’s headquarters,
which still bears the name of the estate’s founder, Josef Hofstätter.
No other family winery owns estates with vineyards on both the eastern and
western side of the River Adige valley. Wines grown there bear the estate
name on their labels: Kolbenhof, Barthenau, Oberer and Unterer YngramHof, Steinraffler and Oberkerschbaumer. Other vineyards include parcels of
land in the areas of Tramin, Neumarkt and Pfatten near Auer, all of which
possess excellent climatic conditions. In total they cultivate 50 hectares of
vineyard in carefully selected sites at elevations between 250 and 750
meters. Soils consist for the most part of coarse sand, gravel and morainal
deposits eroded from the surrounding mountains, though in the south
around Tramin, and on the eastern side of the valley at Mazon and
Buchholz they are rich in calcium carbonate, a prerequisite for producing
fine wines.
When Martin Foradori took over the estate from his father Paolo in the
1990's, he extended the cellars "skyward". In 2013, he fully equipped the
cellar with concrete tanks. The winery was the first not only in Alto Adige,
but also in all of Italy to fully equip a large cellar with these innovative
concrete tanks. And this bold decision was rewarded in the first vintage of
red wines – and a few whites - fermented in them.
“BARTHENAU” VIGNA SAN URBANO
PINOT NERO
Varietal/Blend: Pinot Noir
Farming: sustainable
Soil: mixture of clay, lime, eroded porphyry & fine gravel
Ave Year Vines Planted: circa 1945
Harvest Technique: by hand into small crates
Fermentation: 75% destemmed and lightly crushed / 25% remains
whole berry / cold soak for one day / maceration for 10 days with
fermentation finishing at 28ºC with regular cap submersion and
pumpovers
Malolactic: yes
Aging: young wine is aged in small oak casks for one year then
blended in tank / the wine is barreled down to one large cask for 8
months / 8 months in bottle before market release
Alcohol: 13.5%
Fined: yes
Filtered: yes
Country: Italy
Region: Alto Adige
Vineyard: Barthenau Vigna San Urbano
“Barthenau Vigna San Urbano faithfully reveals the potential
inherent in our finest cru to produces world-beating Pinot Noir. It is
located in the heart of the vineyard surrounding our Barthenau
manor house close to the hamlet of Mazon, where some of the
Pinot Noir vines here are over 65 years old.” More at
Hofstatter.com
www.tedwardwines.com
212-233-1504