TASTING FLIGHT FEATURING:

Alto Adige, Italy

Alpine Wines with Mediterranean Charm from Elena Walch

Elena Walch is the leading Alto Adige wine estate by encouraging innovation, Elena Walch (pictured above on right) has stood at the head of the Alto Adige quality revolution and has gained local and international esteem for her efforts. Her two daughters, Karoline & Julia, are now the 5th generation of the family at the helm.

This week, we're thrilled to carry forward the excitement generated by Karoline Walch's recent visit to Petit Philippe by featuring our favorite wines from the event in this week's Tasting Flight. Elena Walch's wines are a testament to the unwavering commitment in their vineyards. The tireless work in this alpine environment is truly worth it, as it yields exceptional quality wines.

Having personally re-sampled their entire wine portfolio earlier this week, I'm eager to challenge preconceived notions about Pinot Grigio and Pinot Bianco with these outstanding interpretations.

Our $26 Alto Adige Elena Walch Tasting Flight kicks off with a Pinot Grigio boasting a foundation of fruity notes and a harmonious balance of saltiness and minerals. The subsequent Pinot Bianco surprises with its elegance, coupled with subtle herbal undertones on the bouquet. The final white in the flight, the estate's flagship blend, exudes graceful density on the palate and reveals exotic fruit nuances. And last but not least, our sole red in the flight is a 100% Schiava varietal, reminiscent of a youthful sibling of a French Chinon.

These four selections serve as an exceptional introduction to what Alto Adige wines should embody. This experience will undoubtedly enhance your appreciation of Northern Italian wines during your future encounters. For those who can exercise patience, these wines also make the perfect additions to your Thanksgiving Day celebrations!

To delve deeper into the world of Elena Walch and Alto Adige, you'll find a concise overview further ahead, along with detailed information about the flight wines and our tasting room hours at both our South End and Park Road store locations.

We invite you to pay us a visit this week, and please stay tuned for our annual release of the Top 10 Thanksgiving Wines next week! This tradition at Petit Philippe has been alive for over a decade and is not to be missed.

See you soon!

Cheers,

Mark

Alto Adige

Alto Adige is a unique wine region in the northernmost part of Italy, bordering Austria and Switzerland. What makes it unique is the proximity of the Alps and the Mediterranean allowing for a wide range of grape varieties that would otherwise be impossible to grow together.

• Grapes have been grown here for almost 2,500 years.
• Alto Adige DOC has 6 sub-regions.
• There are 13,800 acres (5,600 ha) of vineyards with 274 wineries and 5,000 growers.
• Vineyards sit as high as 3,900 ft (1200 m) above sea level. That's 25% of the way up Mont Blanc!

• The major grapes of Alto Adige by area planted are Pinot Grigio, Schiava (Vernatsch), Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Lagrein, and Pinot Noir.
• 70% of production is by cooperative wine cellars (a very high percentage!).
• 98% of all production is DOC wine – the highest in Italy!
• 64% of Alto Adige wine is white wine.

• 70% of people in Alto Adige (Südtirol) speak German.
• Alto Adige has the highest concentration of Michelin Stars in all of Italy.
• Bolzano, the capital, is often warmer than Sicily in the summer.

Elena Walch

Elena Walch is actually an architect, but in the 1980s, when she married into the Walch winegrowing family in Termeno, wine became the main focus of her life. Since that time, it has been with commitment, self-confidence, and no compromise that she has implemented her ideas of sustainability in the vineyard and the winery and developed her terroir wines.

Even though Walch crossed over from a sector that was distant from wine, she soon became a forerunner and a pioneer of a wine philosophy which, forty years ago, was still broadly new. Quality became her guiding idea, and it was to be pursued without compromise: “With the finest terroir wines, we raised the quality standards of the region to a new level,” she says today, with self-confidence. And that is also attested to by independent experts. Thus the terroir wines of the two single vineyards of her estate winery – Castel Ringberg in Caldaro and Kastelaz in Termeno – are highly respected products that have received numerous awards and have found their place on the best wine lists around the globe. And both locations were included in the exclusive VIGNA list of vineyards, through which the origin of single vineyard wines is guaranteed.

The attention with which Elena Walch harvests proves that her linearity is in the right direction. In addition, the general development has proven her correct when what is concerned, for instance, is sustainable work in the vineyard and in the wine cellar. “Our particular attention along those lines was always paid to the support of the vine’s own self-defenses,” says the pioneer from Termeno.

In the meantime, Walch has also transferred her philosophy to the next generation. Today, she runs the family estate winery along with her daughters, Julia and Karoline.

>> Tasting Flight Hours:

PARK ROAD: 

5:00 - 9:00pm Thurs & Friday

1:00 - 9:00pm Saturday

1:00 - 7:00pm Sunday

SOUTH END:

5:00 - 9:00pm Thurs & Friday

1:00 - 9:00pm Saturday

1:00 - 7:00pm Sunday

>> Tasting Flight Offerings:

Elena Walch

Pinot Grigio

Vigna 'Castel Ringberg' 2021

Alto Adige, IT

$35 btl/retail

A single vineyard Northern Italy Pinot Grigio with character. 

VARIETAL: 100% Pinot Grigio. Gentle pressing, followed by static clarification. A part ferments in stainless steel tanks under controlled temperature (20°C). 15% of the must ferments in French oak barriques followed by partial malolactic fermentation. The blending occurs shortly before bottling in springtime the following year.

TASTING NOTES: A clear straw yellow with a complex variety of fruits, especially ripe pears and lime blossom, as well as spicy sage notes inform the bouquet. Structure and elegance, power and harmony dominate the palate, combined with creamy fullness and density.

Elena Walch

Pinot Bianco 'Kristallberg' 2021 

Alto Adige, IT

$38 btl/retail

A captivating Pinot Bianco with juicy freshness, delicate aromas, and excellent complexity.

VARIETAL: 100% Pinot Bianco from steep vineyards on light limestone and porphyric soils. The young wine matures in stainless steel tanks for several months on the fine lees. 

TASTING NOTES: The 2021 Pinot Bianco presents itself in clear, bright straw yellow, with fruity aromas, fresh apple notes and a touch of herbs in the bouquet. In the mouth, the wine surprises with elegant, mineral depth, lively acidity and a fresh finish. An inviting aperitif wine and an ideal accompaniment for light dishes.

Elena Walch

Grande Cuvée

 "Beyond the Clouds" 2021

Alto Adige, IT

$98 btl/retail

The highest quality varietals of the vintage create an award-winning white blend that is iconic of Elena & the re-birth of Alto Adige.

VARIETAL: The various grape varieties get picked as soon as the Chardonnay reaches optimum maturity. All varieties get crushed and pressed together after which they also ferment together in new French oak barriques. Part of the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation, after which it is matured for another 10 months in barrique with lees being regularly stirred up. The finished wine is bottle aged for at least 6 months before being released. 

TASTING NOTES:  Brilliant, intensive yellow is the color of our white blend Beyond the Clouds. In the nose, a complex, beguiling play of aromas unfolds with fruity nuances of exotic fruits such as pineapple, notes of blossoms and flowers, of rose petals and light toast aromas. Dense and complex, the wine enthuses on the palate: with fullness and structure, creamily soft and elegant, stimulatingly fresh and juicy with a discreetly incorporated, modest note of wood and a long reverberation of taste.

Elena Walch

Schiava 2021  

Alto Adige, IT

$23 btl/retail

A cheerful, yet sophisticated light-bodied red from Alto Adige.

VARIETAL: 100% Schiava from the calcareous soils at medium altitude, where the grapes can benefit most from the Mediterranean climate with warm summer days combined with cool mountain nights. Temperature controlled fermentation in stainless steel tanks with 6 days of skin contact, followed by the maturation in traditional large oak casks. 

TASTING NOTES: Bright ruby in color with a delicate hint of cherry on the nose. On the palate, it is harmonious and elegant due to naturally mild acidity and tannin with a pleasant bitter almond flavor on the finish. An elegant, fruity red wine with good length.

We will have your order ready for pick-up at our South End store or

at the New Flagship Store at 4001 Park Rd!

 704.332.9910 (Park Rd.) | 704.332.9913 (South End)

 mark@petitphilippe.com | www.petitphilippe.com

Wine Emergency? text us at 415.306.4283

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