Wine Cantina Andrian, St. Magdalener DOC, 2011

Introduction

Cantina Andrian, St. Magdalener is a dry red wine from the Alto Adige region, with a fine, elegant taste and a pleasant fruity-floral aroma, demonstrating the uniqueness of the Santa Magdalena terroir. It is produced from Schiava and Lagrein grape varieties, grown on pebble-alluvial soils. Schiava is the main variety of Santa Maddalena wines, which are characterized by lightness, simplicity and refreshing acidity. Lagrein, the first information about which dates back to the 14th century, has a special historical significance, giving wines from it additional value. Aged in small oak barrels, the wine has a wonderful richness, and the combination of the Alto Adige terroir and the skill of Cantina Andrian winemakers makes it very attractive to connoisseurs of Italian wines.

In 2008, the wineries “Cantina Terlano” and “Cantina Andrian” entered into an alliance for further development. Cantina Andrian has preserved its enormous potential of vineyards, as well as historical achievements, such as the wine from the grape variety Lagrein, which was one of the first wines aged here in barriques. Today, “Cantina Andrian” can be proud of its individuality and quality. The winery draws its unique success from the terroir and the carefully selected grape varieties for it.

The history of the Cantina Terlano cooperative began more than 100 years ago with the unification of 24 wine producers to jointly combat the phylloxera invasion. Today, the cooperative has about 100 producers, the total area of the Terlano vineyards is 150 hectares, and 1.2 million bottles of wine are produced annually.
The vineyards of the members of the Cantina Terlano cooperative are located in the foothills of the Chogelberg range, at an altitude of between 250 and 900 meters above sea level, which favorably affects the cultivation and selection of grape varieties. These places are famous for their unique soils, consisting of quartz porphyry – a rock from which purple dye was once made. The terroir has a strong influence on the formation of the flexible and dense structure of the wines from the Terlano region.

The cellars of the Terlano estate have been storing the most valuable vintages for a long time. Today, you can see 12 thousand bottles of different years there, starting from 1955. Several unique bottles of wine from the 1893 harvest, which are the same age as the cellar, are also stored here. This is one of the rarest wine collections in Italy, convincingly showing how mature and harmonious the Terlano wines are, as well as how gracefully and exquisitely they can age.

It is unlikely that there is another winery in Alto Adige other than Cantina Terlano that can present 15 Premium wines, 14 of which received high marks from 91/100 to 94/100 points for tasting to the famous wine experts from Wine Advocate. Moreover, it is unlikely that there is another wine cooperative in Italy with such a high level of assortment. This is the phenomenon of Cantina Terlano, which has proven that the collective farm version of the winemaking business gives results that are not inferior to, and sometimes even far exceed, the results of private wineries.