2008 Cantina Terlan Alto Adige Pinot Grigio

Cantina Terlan is one of Italy’s most respected wineries, yet the wines it is famous for have little to do with conventional notions about Italian wines. Located in the far north in the mountains under Austria, the Cantina is a cooperative founded in the late 19th century. Seventy percent of what it produces is white wine though it is equally celebrated for several red wines. Its vineyards have German names as do the executives who run the organization. And its history is based on an act of defiance in 1893 when twenty-four Terlano grape growers decided to join forces and bottle their own wine under a coop name rather than sell their grapes at low prices to a few big landlords. Today there are 143 growers in the cooperative who own a total of nearly 400 vineyard acres. Some 1.4 million bottles are produced annually. The wines are invariably highly rated, and Gambero Rosso has awarded the coop more than twenty 3 Glass ratings, one of only forty wineries in Italy to achieve that status. Wine Advocate has called the Cantina “one of the most exciting and innovate models in Italian wine today. “