2023 Elena Walch - Pinot Grigio Castel Ringberg (750ml)

Elena Walch trained as an architect before marrying into one of Alto Adige's oldest and most storied winemaking families, bringing a modern sensibility to a traditionally conservative estate. She became one of the driving forces behind the region's quality revolution, drastically lowering yields, planting higher-density vineyards, and selecting superior clones at a time when such practices were far from standard in Alto Adige. Today the estate's roughly sixty hectares are increasingly guided by her daughters, Julia and Karoline, representing the family's fifth generation, while the winery's guiding philosophy remains that every wine should be a genuine expression of its individual vineyard's soil and climate.

This Pinot Grigio comes entirely from Castel Ringberg, a twenty-hectare monopole vineyard in Caldaro that was the first single-vineyard Pinot Grigio ever produced in Italy. Sitting between 330 and 400 meters beneath a Renaissance castle, the site benefits from limestone and morainic soils, cooling lake breezes, and the warm, drying southern wind known as the Ora. The grapes are hand harvested at the end of August, gently pressed, and mostly fermented in stainless steel at controlled temperature, with a smaller portion fermented in large wooden barrels, before blending and bottling the following spring.

The wine shows a clear straw yellow color, with a complex bouquet of ripe pear, lime blossom, sage, and spice. The palate is structured and elegant, with creamy fullness balanced by fresh acidity, stone fruit, and a salty mineral note on the finish. It pairs beautifully with seafood, salads, or other light dishes.