Cantina Terlano Pinot Bianco Vorberg: 1959-2014
BY IAN D’AGATA |
Surprising as it may seem, Italy’s best white wine producer may be a co-operative. Certainly no producer in the country makes longer-lived white wines than the Cantina Terlano. Bottles from the 1950s are still in splendid shape and are pursued by collectors and wine lovers around the world. In fact, Terlano boasts the largest stocks of collectible old whites of any winery in Italy.
While Terlano now routinely sets aside several thousand bottles every year with the aim of putting them on sale four to five years after the harvest, this was not always the case. In fact, it was a practice started in 1954 by kellermeister (chef de cave) Sebastian Stocker in the first year he began working at Terlano. Stocker took it upon himself to squirrel away bottles without telling anyone, for he knew that in those times the co-op’s board would never have agreed to such a move. That’s because in Italy wine had always been looked upon as a source of calories and as a guarantee of a modest income for grape farmers and wineries, and was far removed from its lifestyle or luxury image of today. Clearly, in a country that had long lived through tough economic times and was just beginning to recover from World War II, all wine was made to be sold immediately (for this reason, very few Italian wine producers have any significant stocks of older bottles). And so, thanks to Stocker hiding away hundreds of bottles every year behind a brick wall (some of his original hiding places are still visible today, should you visit the winery), Terlano was blessed with a cache of old bottles that have made its reputation.
A view from the Terlano winery
Getting to Know Terlano
Located in Italy’s northeast, in the bucolic region of Alto Adige on the border with Austria (Alto Adige belonged to Austria until the end of World War I), Terlano is the name of a town from which the co-operative takes its name. Founded in 1892, the co-op farms 250 hectares, 70 of which used to belong to members of the nearby Andriano social co-op. But when the latter encountered difficulties due to tough economic times, Terlano took over beginning with the 2009 vintage. Thus Terlano now boasts 230 members in all, 70% of whom are Terlano’s own original members.
Like all co-ops, Terlano is not a small operation, which makes its ability to produce extremely high-quality wines all the more impressive. In fairness, there are several other Alto Adige co-ops that make outstanding white wines (Tramin, Nalles-Magré and San Michele Appiano immediately spring to mind), which explains why many wine experts and oenophiles in Italy and abroad consider Alto Adige to be Italy’s best source of high-quality whites. Terlano bottles 1.4 million bottles a year (plus another 500,000 under the Andriano label), sold in several tiers at varying price points. And while Terlano makes brilliant reserve Sauvignon Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Lagrein and Terlaner wines (the latter is an historical local blend, invented by the Terlano co-operative, of roughly 60% to 90% Pinot Bianco, depending on the vintage, plus smaller percentages of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc), and very solid entry-level wines, it is with Pinot Bianco that the co-op reaches a pinnacle of quality that I would argue is not matched by anyone else working with this variety—and not just in Italy, for that matter.
Cantina Terlano, arguably Italy’s top producer of age-worthy whites, excels with a number of wines across their large range. The Pinot Bianco Vorberg, one of the Terlano flagships, ranks among the world’s most distinguished white wines. Vintages from the 1950s still drink beautifully today, a testament to this potential of this underrated variety.
