The wine lists to report from this region with a strong wine mark
To set up a wine list it takes time, passion and dedication. Time to taste and get to know the producers, visit their cellars and see how they work live. Passion for tasting wines and finding those most in line with one’s philosophy. And dedication to deepen knowledge, to choose those of the best quality, at the right price. This is what the managers of the three restaurants to try in Trentino Alto Adige, a region rich in wine, told us.
Renzo Bertol (Ristorante Orsogrigio, Ronzone), Egon Perathoner (Ristorante Anna Stuben, Ortisei) and Herbert Hintner (Ristorante Zur Rose, Appiano), tell us about the criteria for choosing the wines they offer in their restaurant menus.
RENZO BERTOL – ORSOGRIGIO RESTAURANT (Ronzone, Trentino)
“It is important to study, have the basics and the knowledge to know how to appreciate what you taste” says Renzo Bertol. “Only in this way do you understand what it means to make wine, and therefore to choose the best. Only in this way can the personality of the restaurant’s wine list emerge. In our cellar today there are about 40,000 bottles, almost 8000 are over twenty years old. A very important selection, therefore, to offer guests both the territorial brands, wisely choosing the right products and the right vintages, and the lesser known but very high quality small companies that offer the best product in terms of quality / price “reveals Bertol . “It is easier to sell a“ pimp ”wine, while it is more difficult to sell a particular and territorial wine. An easy thing must not be explained, a more complex thing must be explained, made understood to make it appreciated and therefore it must have a person behind it who knows and knows “.
“If we stay in Trentino I really appreciate Maso Furli in Lavis, his cellar looks like a botanical garden. But I also point out Dalzocchio di Rovereto, they only produce pinot noir by choice. Outside the region I really like Josko Gravner in Gorizia and Domenico Clerico in Piedmont ”concludes Bertol.
EGON PERATHONER – ANNA STUBEN RESTAURANT (Ortisei, South Tyrol)
“We have chosen to favor small producers, to give space to smaller productions, those less known, but which work of great quality. Every year I travel a lot around South Tyrol, Italy and Europe to learn, get to know and discover new small realities, perhaps less known, but which produce great quality at the right price “says Egon Perathoner of the starred restaurant in Ortisei.
“In the last year alone I have visited more than 60 wineries and not only in South Tyrol. In Friuli I was really struck by the Zidarich Karst, or the producers Miani and Meroi, the Specogna farm. In Valtellina I was impressed by the Boffalora farm, an example for everyone in the world in the wine of true passion and dedication. Just think that to plant vines, Giuseppe, the producer, has to walk half an hour. Obviously alongside these small producers in our menu there are also the most well-known names, such as in Tuscany Tenuta Luce or Monteverro, both Italian and world excellences ”. For the future? The Alta Langa in Piedmont will carve out a beautiful place in the panorama of Italian bubbles.
And he continues: “Among the services we offer at the restaurant, in terms of wines, that of the glass has always played an important role. For our tasting menus, I propose three types of combinations: local wines that I always try to propose because it seems right to make my land known, then wines from other regions of Italy, also thinking of South Tyrolean customers, to give them the opportunity to know and taste other wines; finally, international wines, at the moment we cover six different countries ”. The most particular combination? “The collaboration with chef Reimund Brunner is so tried and tested that for this summer we have created a perfect dish with a local Orange wine that I wanted at all costs to offer by the glass”.
HERBERT HINTNER – ZUR ROSE RESTAURANT (Eppan – South Tyrol)
“For us it is very important to taste the wines and especially the vintages: for this reason, in the selection of the wines of the territory, we include those where we have been, that we have known, visited and tasted the reference year” says Herbert HIntner of the starred restaurant in Eppan. “Among the small producers of our territory that have struck us I mention Weingut Abraham, Ignaz Niedrist or the Taschlerhof farm, while outside the region, in addition to direct knowledge, we have to rely on representatives, but we are very loyal to the wineries we have known and visited “.
In the restaurant menu there are more than 500 bottles and over 20 by the glass, a truly impressive quantity. “My wife, who looks after the sommelier service, manages perfectly to integrate the offer of wines by the glass with the inclusion of those wines open within the tasting menus. Over the last few months we have not noticed any changes in the needs of our customers: there is certainly more and more attention to the quality of the wine, to the desire to understand the content “, says Hinter. “As far as organic wines are concerned, there is a tendency in people who really understand wine, to look for this wine offer. Here the percentage is still quite low, we are talking about less than 10%, but certainly the important presence of organic wines on the menu is an element of distinction and characterization of the restaurant “.
