Stevie Kim & Willi Stürz talk about Epokale, the 100-point wine from the Tramin Winery

The place that hosts us today is at least unusual for a wine-themed chat: yet, the Monteneve mine, in the province of Bolzano, is closely linked to a Gewürztraminer who has earned a place in the Olympus of wines for the very high quality achieved since the first vintage. The 2009 vintage, in fact, scored 100 points from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, the very first among Italian whites to cross this milestone. Let's talk about Epokale together with Willi Stürz, in a wonderful setting due to the wide view that sweeps over the Ridanna Valley

Willi, would you like to explain to us why we're here?

For thirteen years now we have chosen to store and mature our Epokale wine in a place other than the usual cellars, to give it time to age for several years in a controlled environment, with constant temperature and humidity. The high altitude helps to give stability to the characteristics of the wine: at two thousand meters above sea level, even the air pressure changes and this creates a set of special conditions, which we experienced almost by chance

The success of this wine is the result of an intuition, therefore, of a winning idea that led you to choose this mine to store your bottles. Isn't all this difficult?

No, not at all. The logistics of transporting to the mine are carried out once a year, after all, when we store the most recent bottles and at the same time we collect those of the year destined for the market. It must also be said that the effort would still be rewarded by the result

Our cellar is located about 250 meters above sea level, or 1700 meters away from the gallery where we store our wine. To reach the storage site, we have to travel about three and a half kilometers inside the mountain, in a special train.

The mine is not only a storage site but also a real museum. Do you want to talk to us about it?

This location certainly has a cultural and historical value, as well as a utilitarian one. The museum that is located here tells how the extraction works were carried out over the last thousand years, until the mine closed about forty years ago. The Tramin Winery can also be visited, with guided tours and combined tastings

Going back to the 100-point Epokale vintage: what characteristics did it have? What about the other vintages?

In that year we were very lucky with the Traminer. We obtained a very concentrated wine, from a late harvest, in October, then brought to the market in 2017. We continue to prefer this type of harvest to give the wine a high sugar residue, which differentiates it from drier “colleagues”. The sugar residue, combined with storage in the mine, offers a slow, deep and complex maturation

Initially we produced just over 1000 bottles, while the last vintages range from 2500 to 3000 bottles; of all the vintages, only that of 2014 was difficult and prompted us to let the wine mature again, after a careful evaluation. In that case, in fact, the acidity was higher and the sugar residue was lower, so we are curious to understand what its evolution will be

What about the 2020 wines instead?

Until that year we had all the wines in the mine. Now we are about to transfer the 2015 bottles to the market, which have been left to rest in the tunnel in the mine environment, where we find 11°C and a humidity of

Cheers to those who are about to uncork one! To continue following the latest news from the world of wine, we'll see you at the next podcast.

Stevie Kim