Theo's Blog

Every year I prepare a wine-tasting. As I'm a member of 2 wine-clubs, I only need to make sure I get 2 bottles of each wine, and I can do the same presentation twice. It's though sometimes to find an original topic.

This year 'Lagrein' was on my agenda. I've tasted this varietal 2,5 years ago for the first time (thanks to Ivo), and I became sort of a fan-boy.
It's a rather unknown grape, growing only in the north of Italy, in a region called Alto Adige (or Süd-Tirol). It was used to produce primarily rosé wines, but since the early nineties Alto Adige got (more) famous because of the very deeply colored, smooth but strong spicy reds, based on Lagrein.

I managed (and it wasn't easy) to collect an interesting selection of 10 bottles from 6 different producers:
 

Name	Year	Type Alc. %	Price in €	Producer	Club1 Score*	Club2 Score*
Lagrein Rosé	2007	Rosé 13%	7,50	Nals Margreid	12	12
Lagrein	2006	Red 13,5%	9,80	Nals Margreid	13	11
Lagrein	2005	Red 13%	9,95	Untermoserhof	12.5	13
Lagrein	2005	Red 13%	10,65	Eisacktaler	14	12.5
Lagrein	2005	Red 13%	9,45	Terlan	13,5	13.5
Lagrein 'Gries' Riserva	2005	Red 13%	14,10	Terlan	14.5	14.5
Lagrein 'Prophyr' Riserva	2005	Red 13,5%	22,80	Terlan	15.5	16
Lagrein Reserva	2005	Red 13,5%	17,85	Untermoserhof	14.5	15
Lagrein Reserve	2004	Red 13%	17,73	Peter Zemmer	15	15,5
St. Pauls Exclusiv Lagrein Gries	2003	Red 14%	15,75	St. Pauls	15.5	na

*Max. Score=20
As you can see, the 'Reserves' scored (predictably) better (in both wine-clubs). Of course, the price is significantly higher too.
After having tasted these Lagrein bottles twice, the common denominators are: dark color, smell of prunes, tobacco, chocolate (sometimes fruity, sometimes spicy), serious acidity, smooth tannines, peppery finishing.

So if you see a Lagrein in a wineshop somewhere (and I know they are hard to find), don't hesitate, especially if they are 'Reserva' !

Updated: see a full report (in Dutch) at Te Judice.

Category:  Wine  | Technorati: Wine

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