2016 Terlaner I Grande Cuvée Alto Adige Cantina Terlan

This is very intense with cooked-apple, white- peach, mineral and cream character. Full-bodied yet agile and fresh. Lovely creamy texture, too. Drink now.

A blend of mostly Pinot Bianco (75%) with smaller parts Chardonnay (22%) and Sauvignon Blanc (3%), the 2016 Alto Adige Terlaner I Grand Cuvée Primo opens to a deep golden color with very pale greenish highlights. There's an equal balance of rich stone fruit aromas and smoky toasted notes that merge with beautiful intensity and harmony. This is a medium-weight white offering an ample base from which the wine can grow in intensity and balance the longer it warms in the glass. It promises a very long aging future ahead. it ages on the lees for 12 months before its commercial release. With only 4,000 bottles produced, this is a wine well worth seeking.

Despite a difficult beginning, the 2016 vintage turned out be an exceptional one. A later than average harvest allowed the fruit longer hang time and the result is wine with an extraordinary range of aroma and flavour. Made with a very high proportion of Pinot Bianco and just 2% Sauvignon. Palpable intensity on the nose: at first green fruit and alpine flowers followed by a wave of richer fruit aromas - pineapple and mango - streaked with notes of chalk and flint. Incredible energy on the palate with emerging secondary flavours (baked apple and cardamom) that twine together with salty and stoney notes for a long, dry and satisfying finish.