Grape Variety: Blauburgunder

Colour:

Red

The name for Pinot Noir in the Alto-Adige region of Italy. The beautifully eloquent examples of Bruno Gottardi come from his vineyards situated in Mazzon, Alto Adige, a remarkable micro-climate wherein the cool air pours off the Austrian mountains and refreshes the vines during the hot summer days. This is the so-called “Blauburgunder-Himmel". Gottardi makes two B-burgunders, a limpid primary Pinot, bursting with wild strawberry and rhubarb fruit, and with a savoury mint and liquorice finish, heady and jammy, reminiscent of sweet plums and blackberries, but there is a backbone that keeps you returning to it. The Reserve is like a good Chambolle-Musigny, with that ineffable Pinot mixture of enticing primary fruit (violets, red and black cherries) and the secondary whiffs of tobacco and truffle and raspberry leaf. Gottardi believes in as gentle extraction of fruit as possible; gravity-feeding, pneumatic pressure and soft oaking. These wines would be perfect with feathered game.