Description
85% Schiava/15% other. Known locally as Vernatsch, Schiava is a thin-skinned grape native to the Alto Adige but increasingly rare there. Nusserhof has a steep, certified-organic hillside plot of 90-year-old, pergola-planted Schiava vines on volcanic soils a few kilometers from their Bolzano estate.There are other vines mixed into the Schiava vines, including Lagrein and Merlot and others never identified. Yields are quite low at 30hl/ha. The farming is certified organic and harvest is by hand. The grapes are destemmed and co-fermented spontaneously with natural yeasts in stainless steel tanks. Maceration lasts up to 6 weeks. The wine is aged in 20-hectoliter French oak botti for about 20 months, followed by 2 more years in bottle. A small amount of sulfur is added after fermentation and at bottling only. The wine is named for vignaiolo Heinrich Mayr’s wife Elda. Because the Santa Magdalena DOC allows yields of up to 150 hl/ha, the Mayrs opt out of it in favor of the simple Vino Rosso classification, hence no variety or vintage (except as a discreet lot number) on the label.