Blog: LR Südtirol Weiß | Colterenzio

The new vintage of the exclusive white wine cuvée LR is on the market since March 2023. The wine captivates with elegance, intensity and complexity, rounded off by an incomparable packaging that underlines the high quality of the content. The 2019 vintage presents an unprecedented freshness, complexity and excitement.

The story of LR began in the 2011 vintage with the dream of Luis Raifer (long-time managing director of the Schreckbichl winery) to create a wine unlike any other. A cuvée of Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Sauvignon to express the full potential of the terroir. A wine in which elegance, complexity and mineral freshness merge into a harmonious whole and present themselves as a work of art on the bottle.

Each vintage has its own identity. Every year, the team at Schreckbichl Winery takes on the challenge of expressing the best characteristics of the vintage in LR.

'In the 2019 LR vintage, Pinot Blanc plays particularly big,' muses Martin Lemayr, master cellarer at Schreckbichl Winery, as he tastes the wine. 'I don't think we've ever had an LR with such lively acidity, crispness and juiciness. These are the characteristics I clearly attribute to Pinot Blanc - in addition to the vintage characteristics themselves.'

The 2019 wine year was characterized by changeable conditions. A warm winter was followed by cool and wet spring months, including cold spells. However, shortly before the start of harvest, the winegrowers were rewarded with ideal weather conditions, sunshine during the day and cooler nights, and this golden autumn accompanied the entire 2019 harvest season.'At LR, this naturally played into our hands. The carefully selected plots from which the grapes come are all located slightly higher, at around 480-550 m a.s.l. They are thus harvested a little later and were able to benefit from these conditions until they reached full ripeness,' Lemayr recalls.

Once harvested, the smallest quantities are pressed separately. After a year, Martin Lemayr turns his attention to the assemblage of grape varieties. This is followed by another year of aging in oak barrels and an additional year in bottle. Then finally, three years after the harvest, the wine goes on sale.

Here it presents itself today with intense and complex aromas of tropical fruits, ripe pineapple and citrus notes of oranges and lemon zest. The whole is rounded off by very fine, gentle vanilla tones. On the palate, the wine is expressive, elegant, athletic lean built, the acidity pronounced and accentuated. The finish then harmonious, without losing tension with a long lasting finish.

'I suspect that one or two LR lovers will be surprised by this vintage,' grins Alex Ferrigato. 'I was myself throughout its development, because the 2019-er shows a facet of LR that we didn't know before. Such a pronounced acidity, the tension and freshness of this wine already make it a real pleasure to drink. And I look forward to seeing its evolution in a few years,' Ferrigato concludes. - Gerardo [TS04/23]