Nova Domus Terlaner Riserva

Cantina Terlano is a growers' cooperative founded in 1893 in Terlano, about ten kilometres north-west of Bolzano, with 143 member growers and a cellar that turns out roughly 70 percent white and 30 percent red, all of it at DOC level. The house is known above all for its white wines and their longevity, and Nova Domus is the Riserva version of its Terlaner cuvee, listed first among the Selections whites and released under the Alto Adige Terlano sub-denomination. The name refers to the ruined castle of 1206 that towers over the entrance to the village; the quote on the producer's page from Rudi Kofler, the cellar master, describes the wine as a full-bodied, multifaceted, mineral cuvee of Pinot Bianco, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc that needs years in bottle to reach its potential.

The vineyards sit on the red porphyry that defines Terlano: a siliceous volcanic rock that weathers into deep, skeletal, sandy to sandy-loam soils with a very high stone fraction and low to moderate carbonate content, free-draining and nutrient-poor, which the cooperative credits for naturally limited yields, for the salty tension of its wines and for the longevity of its whites. For the 2021 Nova Domus the producer's tech sheet gives 70 percent Pinot Bianco, 25 percent Chardonnay and 5 percent Sauvignon Blanc from south to south-west facing sites, the Pinot Bianco at 500 to 600 m and the Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc at 300 to 350 m, at a yield of 42 hl/ha. The importer's sticker on this bottle prints 60/30/10 instead, which is the proportion the producer lists for the 2020 vintage; the producer's figures for 2021 are the ones to trust. The grapes are hand-harvested and sorted, pressed gently as whole clusters, and the must is settled naturally; fermentation is slow and temperature-controlled in 30 hl oak casks, the Pinot Bianco and Chardonnay go through partial malolactic fermentation, and the wine ages twelve months on its lees in large wooden barrels before the lots are blended three months ahead of bottling. The finished wine is 14 percent alcohol with 1.1 g/l residual sugar and 6.1 g/l total acidity. The importer's sticker gives 6 June 2023 as the date of manufacture, and the lot on the back label, L23157, reads as the same day.

The producer's own report on 2021 describes a snowy winter followed by a long, exceptionally dry spring. Cold weather in March and April delayed budburst far enough that the vines escaped the many frosty April nights; a cool, wet May restored water reserves, and flowering on the earliest, warmest sites came at the end of May and start of June, two weeks behind the long-term average. A hot, dry June kept fungal pressure very low; July brought heavy rain and thunderstorms that continued into August in places, but August daytime temperatures stayed moderate, which the cooperative credits for the fruit and vibrant acidity of the year. Harvest on the earliest sites began slightly late, on 6 September, in weather that held almost throughout. The crop was somewhat smaller than usual, and the cooperative says the signs of a very exciting vintage were there from the start.