Garlider

The Eisackthaler* is an impossibly beautiful little alpine valley on the way from the city of Bolzano to Austria. Some of my favorite Italian white wines are made here, the high altitude (1,500 feet and up) ensuring fresh acidity.Christian Kerschbaumer is a young organic grower who makes deeply flavorful yet bright, almost crystalline white wines here. His tiny, impeccably clean cellar features both stainless steel vats and the larger oak and acacia-wood ovals called 'füder,' as used in Germany. (These barrels help to integrate the wine, but do not add any flavors of their own.) The high-altitude vineyards (at between 1,800 and 2,700 feet above sea level) are steep, beautifully kept, and perfectly exposed to the sun; this is a model artisan winery.

* or Val d'Isarco; Italian is the minority language here, despite the region having been Italian since about 1920

Müller-Thurgau

Müller-Thurgau is taken much more seriously here than it is in Germany, and the wine shows it. Floral, distinctly aromatic, bright in acidity but not edgy; great with all sorts of cured pork. I like to serve this wine with salame and olives before dinner, but it would also complement a number of vegetable and seafood dishes.

Pinot Grigio

One of my best restaurant customers told me that Christian's Pinot Grigio/Rülander is the best he'd tasted, and I'm not going to disagree with him. Excellent freshness for the variety, with the varietal flavors of pear, apple and nutmeg very clear. The wine is fermented and aged in large oak barrels ('fuder').

Sylvaner

The Sylvaner grape is very much at home here, and the best examples rival the wines of Franconia or the very best from Alsace. Christian's Sylvaner is fermented (using indigenous yeast) and aged in large acacia-wood barrels; it is a broad, meaty white wine with excellent complexity (hints of apricot, herbs, white flowers) and very fresh finishing acidity. A revelation if most of the Sylvaner you've drunk is from Alsace, where the grape is often not taken seriously.

Veltliner

'Veltliner' in the South Tyrol can mean either Fruhroter Veltliner or the more substantial Grüner Veltliner, but Christian has only Grüner Veltliner. Fermented using indigenous yeast in large oak barrels, and aged in the same barrels. It is the biggest of Garlider's wines, very concentrated, showing hints of citrus and white pepper. I think this will age for 3-5 years.