04 Nov Please The Palate Wine of the Week: Weingut Stroblhof 2015 Pinot Bianco, Alto Adige-Sudtirol, Italy

White wines can be enchanting and this week I was enchanted with the aromatic beauty and mouthfeel of the Weingut Stroblhof 2015 Pinot Bianco, Alto Adige-Sudtirol, the Please The Palate wine of the week. Alto Adige, also called Sudtirol in Germany, is the northernmost province in Italy. It is located in the heart of the Alps, where Italy borders Austria and Switzerland. It is an area with the highest percentage of DOC-quality level wines in the country. Ninety-eight percent of the wines produced are DOC certified wines. In addition, in Alto Adige, sixty-two percent of the wine produced is white wine, which includes Pinot Grigio, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Bianco, Chardonnay, Muller-Thurgau, Kerner, Moscato Giallo, Riesling, Sylvaner, and Veltliner. Pinot Bianco, also known as Weissburgunder or Klevner in Austria and Pinot Blanc in France, is a genetic mutation of Pinot Noir. Pinot Blanc is a white grape variety most associated with the Alsace region of France but it thrives in the high elevation, hillside vineyards and the hot summer days and cold nights of the the Alto Adige. Weingut Stroblhof was founded in 1890 and is a small family-owned producer of wine, making only 3000 cases of wine. The grapes are sourced from two plots, but located 450-520 meters above sea level with red clay and limestone soils in one vineyard and calcareous gravel deposits in the other. Weingut Stroblhof 2015 Pinot Bianco, Alto Adige-Sudtirol, Italy is a blend of 94 percent Pinot Blanc with 3 percent Chardonnay and 3 percent Pinot Grigio. (The DOC allows for up to 15 percent of other varieties to be blended into the Pinot Bianco.) The grapes are hand-picked and made in stainless steel with 6-months spend in cooled large 2,000 liter neutral oak Stockinger barrels using indigenous yeasts and light lees aging.   The resulting wine has beautiful aromatics of citrus, stone fruit, floral, and mineral notes, with a hint of nutty notes. On the palate, the wine is fresh and crisp with a soft, creamy mid-palate. Minerality and salinty are on the finish of this medium-bodied wine. The beauty of this white wine is that it is a 2015. Even with five years of age on it, the wine is fresh and bright with zippy acidity and I enjoyed it with goat cheese and crackers.