2019 Chardonnay

The Alois Lageder winery calls the small alpine town of Magrè its home. Lageder stands out for their use - or shall we say success with -biodynamic practices, throughout their fifty-five hectares of estate-owned vineyards. The winery also purchases fruit from over eighty growers throughout Alto Adige, and while these growers are not biodynamic, they are constantly working toward sustainable and organic practices whenever possible. The sheer number of wines produced here can be dizzying, yet they are easily organized into four different classifications. The “Classical” range takes the most advantage of fruit generated by contracted growers, along with the “Composition” range which focuses more on individual terroir. The “Masterpieces'', their prestige line, are nearly all from the estate’s top vineyards, such as the Lowengang Chardonnay and Krafuss Pinot Noir. Then there are the “Comets”, an experimental range of wines that allow Alois Clemens Lageder, the family’s sixth-generation winemaker, to blend innovation in the cellar with new clones, terroirs and grape varieties throughout the region. Like many producers in Alto Adige, the Lageder family is working hard to understand the long-term effects of climate change and how they must evolve along with it. Being a leader in biodynamic practices can sometimes make this more difficult, yet we can rest assured that the Lageder family is up to the challenge.

While I found most of the entry-level and estate bottlings at Alois Lageder to be among the best wines I’ve tasted from the region, their experimental lineup failed to impress. Granted, as with most producers running similar experiments, these wines are very small in production and meant to be more of a sandbox to better understand how to make best use of their vineyards, varieties and winemaking practices going forward.