Tracing Gewürztraminer to Its Fabled Roots

Tasting with Weingut von Elzenbaum, one of Tramin’s oldest family-operated cellars The Alpine hamlet of Tramin boasts a storybook setting for its tidy hillside vineyards. Rows of vines climb above and overlook the valley floor of apple orchards. The narrow, steepled bell tower crowns it all in this South Tyrolean outpost in northern Italy. Local…

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The Renaissance Treatment

Old vines and a new experiment at Barone de Cles In making wines for the 21st century, family-owned Barone de Cles is taking a page from its own storied past and is recasting itself on a philosophy lifted straight from the Renaissance. Located in the heart of Italy’s Trentino province, Barone de Cles continues to…

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Side Trip to Santa Massenza

Turning “holy wine” into grappa at Francesco Poli “Town” would be a big word for one-piazza Santa Massenza in Italy’s mountainous Trentino province. Although a hydroelectric plant dominates the city’s entrance, most of Santa Massenza’s 100-plus population is in the wine business, in some shape or form, and named Poli, by one way or another….

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