Wojciech Bońkowski
Master of Wine

Franz Haas Pinot Nero Schweizer 2002

I’ve roast a large 4-kg goose and needed a wine to go with those fatty flavours with plenty of umami. One match that I’ve enjoyed many times is an aged dry Riesling, but a 2002 one from Franken I picked from the cellar didn’t thrill, so eating the second half of the bird today with some added sauerkraut, I opted for a Pinot Noir.
This 8-year-old wine comes from the Alpine region of Alto Adige/Südtirol, formally within Italy but German-speaking and historically a part of Austria. Franz Haas is one of the leading producers there – in a region where the best wines are made by co-ops, he is one of the few private estates that can compete – and a long record of excellence with his Pinot Bianco and Pinot Nero. There are two bottlings of the latter and this, with a label drawn by local artist Riccardo Schweizer, is the more expensive cru (the basic PN has a b&w label).The colour is medium light and slowly maturing. The bouquet starts off a little meaty but with airing this quickly becomes cherries and red currents, with a bit of Pinot Noir flowery bonbon sweetness balanced by savoury notes. Really rather structured with plenty of acidity, this shows no evolved notes and has plenty of life ahead. Deliciously fruity but also with stature and seriousness.

Mason vineyards, the Adige valley, and the Alps west of the Adige hit by morning sun.

Alto Adige is home to some very exciting Pinot Noirs. It strikes me that it doesn’t get much recognition as such in the international press – there appears to be more focus on Germany and Austria whose Pinots, in my opinion, cannot match those of Alto Adige. With its variety of soils and exposures this region is well suited to growing many different grapes, but one area reputed for Pinot Noir is on the east bank of the Adige river (hence exposed west), at an altitude of around 300m, called Mason (or Mazzon). Haas’ Schweizer is partly sourced from here. Alto Adige Pinot Noirs can often err on the meaty, savoury side, but they have more vivid fruit, more balanced alcohol, and can apparently digest new oak better than their German or Austrian counterparts. Another really interesting characteristic is their good ageing potential: I think many can age better than good Burgundies. Many at age 8–10 are still showing young and punchy (like my Haas today), and I once had a superlative 15-year-old 1991 from J. Hofstätter, the region’s other champion of Pinot Noir.

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An Alto Adige dinner

Alto Adige wines are a bit like Volkswagen cars. They offer no passionate romantic emotions (at least to me) but embody the notion of ‘consistent quality’. You always know what to expect and you are never disappointed. Sometimes I wish they showed, as do their neighbours from the region of Trentino, a bit of wildness at heart and irrational genius, but I appreciate the fact that in many real life situations, Alto Adige wines are a safe and satisfying choice.

Chef Stefan Unterkircher.


Never more so than at a restaurant when for any reason, a more adventurous choice is not available. Tonight’s dinner at the San Lorenzo restaurant in Warsaw, organised by the EOS Alto Adige chamber of commerce, was a good reminder of that adage. Plus we’ve had the bonus of sampling the culinary creations of South Tyrolian chef Stefan Unterkircher, normally in residence at the Castel Ringberg restaurant in Caldaro.

Unterkircher was here to train Polish chefs under an EU programme. If they can deliver this kind of cooking in Poland during my lifetime, I’ll be a very happy man. This was simply excellent food. Simple, flavourful, respectful, exuding experience and freedom at the stoves. Freedom and panache is what Polish chefs most often lack; some have great ideas but just lack the seamlessness that only comes with generations of quality cooking and table service, I think.

Below are my notes on the wines tasted without and with food, as were taken during the dinner.


Cantina Produttori Caldaro Pinot Bianco Vial 2007
This is an impressive if really austere, rock-solid, limestoney, dolomitic wine, with a vague soapy character of Pinot Bianco. Acidity is high, there is a rigidity of the 2007 vintage, and on its own it is not showing very friendly.
With cannelloni of IGP speck and IGP apples, grilled dumplings, caraway foam: the tricky part is the featherlight mousse of caraway and gorgonzola, just slightly overpowering the unaromatic Pinot (if a feather can overpower). Good match with the speck-wrapped mild apple, and sufficiently structured (in fact surprisingly so) with the fried canaderlo dumpling.

Elena Walch Pinot Grigio Castel Ringberg 2007
Oaky, rich and butterscotchy, pronounced varietal character but uncomplex at the stage. Palate is rich with a flavour of cereals and baked apple but also a surprising, seary acidity. This has a really odd balance between oak and acids. Not really my style of white, clearly good but a bit heavy-handed without food.
With ravioli of potatoes and dried pears filled with Stelvio DOP cheese and melted butter: Here the acidity is very useful to cut through the beurre noir oxidative richness of the dish. (Take a sip of the above Pinot Bianco to see how tricky this dish is: wine becomes opaque, fruitless and dusty). This Grigio seems almost capable of addressing a wild boar. Impressive match.

J. Hofstätter Gewürztraminer Kolbenhof 2007
A fantastic wine, consistent with several tastings since summer 2008: its usual flowery, exotic self with excellent acidity courtesy of the 2007 vintage. Long, structured, moderately fat for Gewürz, the balance is truly unique: I can’t think of a Traminer this mineral and refreshing.
With fillet of pike perch in black bread crust, creamed Val Venosta cabbage: dish is a little heavy, wine showing high alcohol but otherwise this is a good textural match: very bourgeois and comfy. Interesting counterpoints between the wine’s minerality and flakes of Atlantic sea salt served on the side.

Erste & Neue Lagrein Riserva Puntay 2005
This has the reductive, granitic, wet-basin aromatic austerity of Lagrein, with minor oak in the background. Not a bad wine, with integrated wood and subdued spice. Good acidity, too, and length. Some greenness (as almost all Lagreins in my book). All in all this is very good but perhaps missing the train to excellence.
With beef’s cheek, honey sauce, purée of celeriac and vanilla: An outstanding dish. Very precise cooking with an umami flavour dominating. Match is interesting: bitter cherry core of Lagrein with a hint of caraway matching the obvious spiciness of the dish well, and the wine’s salinity probably the best match for umami.

Cantina Produttori Colterenzio Gewürztraminer Canthus 2007
10.5% alc, 220 g/l sugar. Very varietal, spicy, peppery, with an excellent moment of peach & mango fruit. Even when served quite warm this is never flabby or sticky. Excellent balance. 3.3
With ‘Pink Lady’ apple in French pastry, Gewürztraminer foam, crème fraîche sherbet: As often at gourmet dinners, dessert is the highlight, exuding quality ingredients and a sense of luxure. The sour cream sherbet is a really fantastic match with the similarly rustic, almost animal acidity of the wine. An outstanding combination.

‘Pink Lady’ apple in French pastry, Gewürztraminer foam, crème fraîche sherbet.
An outstanding dessert.

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