Vineyards Magazine

Kalterersee Classico Superiore DOC celebrates this season’s joie de vivre.

A grape variety classic to the Alto Adige and increasingly planted and appreciated, the Schiava found its ideal habitat on the hillslopes around Lake Caldaro, and its quality here has won for it the designation Kalterersee Classico Superiore DOC.

Cantina Kaltern, boasting 590 member-growers cultivating 440 hectares of vineyards, is Alto Adige’s largest and most dynamic cooperative winery. Eloquent interpreter of the environmental equilibrium that the lake and its microclimate gifts to the local vineyards, it is the acknowledged ambassador of the Schiava, an intriguing, energy-laden variety that yields vibrant wines with supple tannins and lively drinkability that makes them delicious partners to a wide range of dishes. It is no wonder, then, that Kaltern’s Kalterersees are known as “brilliantly versatile,” loved by the younger generations who with uninhibited ease enjoy them at happy hour, with formal dinners, and convivial, spur-of-the-moment get-togethers.    

Served cool at 12-14°C, the shimmering red Kalterersee Classico Superiore is the classic way to celebrate that summertime joie de vivre, according to Thomas Scarizuola, Kellermeister of Cantina Kaltern.

The winery presents wine-lovers with three distinctive styles of Kalterersee, all on the market with the new vintages: Kalterersee DOC in the Classica line, Leuchtenberg among the Selezioni, and, finally, portfolio leader Kalterersee Classico Superiore DOCQuintessenz.  

Kalterersee Classico Superiore DOC 2023, part of the Classica line, is the perfect entry portal to the Kaltern Schiava universe. This shimmering, light-bodied red brings its fans immediately to the lakeshore: “It is the purest expression of both the grape variety and of the terroir represented by surrounds of the lake,” explains Scarizuola.

Leuchtenberg Kalterersee Classico Superiore DOC makes its debuton the market with the 2023 vintage. Full-bodied and almost electric in its energy, yet elegantly floral and with a full-flavoured finish, it perfectly embodies the genius loci of its terroir. “Here is a Selezione that is bursting with character, wondrously complex, yet pure pleasure to drink. It is made from the finest, hand-harvested grapes, ripened on low-cropped legacy vines in our historic vineyards,” commented Kaltern winemaker Scarizuola.

The very acme of quality achievable with the Schiava is represented by Kalterersee Classico Superiore DOC 2022, in the Quintessenz line. True icons of the winery’s winemaking philosophy, “the Quintessenz wines,” explained Scarizuola, “are made exclusively from the finest grapes we can raise in our best-quality vineyards, with vineyard yields far below those allowed by DOC production codes.” Elegance, finesse, and structure are the hallmarks of this Kalterersee, contributing to making it a thoroughly contemporary wine amazing its fans with its energy and thrust.