Weingut Gumphof - Alto-Adige, Italy

MARCUS PRACKWEISER of WEINGUT GUMPHOF
Fie Allo Sciliar, Alto-Adige

There are beautiful vistas, and then there are the vineyards of Alto-Adige! Virtually every trip we take to Italy includes a few days there. For wine fans, its terroir-centric bottles emphasizing the character of the fruit - grape type by grape type - and the influence of the ground (vs. additives or oak) that are the treasures. We invite you to taste these new beauties from north of Bolzano, produced by the dynamic Markus Prackweiser, and arriving via our "almost direct imports" efforts.

The combination of the names of the “Gump Hof” winery and winemaker/owner Markus Prackweiser may not sit beautifully on the American tongue, but their characterful, smooth as silk wines do.

We love the wines! And our man Markus, in the high hills near the summits of the Dolomites, has won more awards for his wines than Beatles had hit singles. In his solid rock cellar, Markus is makes some of the best wines in Italy. And, well, prices are incredible vs. quality on any wine scale you weigh in on.

From the mountains in Alto-Adige, one of the more impressive features of the artisanal winemaking Markus is known for is a piercing clarity and definition of fruit. It is not just the place! We've visited dozens of wineries in the area that do not achieve what Markus achieves. It is the farming and terroir combined with the winemaking "smarts" which provides the ultimate expression of some of Italy's coolest cool climate wines.

His Weissburgunder (Pinot Bianco) offerings are among the finest in the we know of. If Pinot Blanc has never been your grape, we urge you to give them a try. The Vernatsch (aka Schiava) Markus produces is from a special terroir making it world class in the category. Don’t miss his head-turning Gewürztraminer.

WEINGUT GUMPHOF:
ABOVE BOLZANO, BELOW BRIXEN

If you drive the Autostrada an hour or so north from Fie Allo Sciliar (great name), you'll arrive in Austria where the word "weingut" - a winery which owns its own vines at the place of the home and the winery- originates. For sure, Weingut Gumphof sits amidst one of the most beautiful settings imaginable; the small house and winery poised atop a stunning outpost of ladder-step hills and curling, uneven ravines.

The ground and winery situation above the Isarco River are perfect for grapes in this "middle ground" area a little north of Bolzano, the recognized home of Alto-Adige's most prolific holdings in the wine community. Geographically, Weingut Gumphof is at the southern edge of the small, long and narrow Valle Isarco which extends some forty minutes north by car to its northern boundary at Brixen. North of that the climate prohibits grape growing for wine. The Valle Isarco is home to the fine wines of Brigette and Peter Pliger at Kuen Hof, while to the south, below Bolzano, is where most of the co-op wines of Alto-Adige -by far the bulk wines that make it to Oregon arrive from. Weingut Gumphof is in between the two, and his varietals reflect this geography in which grapes he grows and which he does not grow. Like all the best wines in the wine world, it come down to the place first, the varietals second and the wine making talent third.

THE PROPERTY, MARKUS AND HIS VISION

The Sciliar Mountain range has been home to the Gumphof family for several centuries. The small, wholly contained farm they work is housed amongst super-steep slopes of a gradient of 50-70%. Their pure micro-climate is bounded by curving hills standing out only at one point- the Gumphof vineyard at a point perfect for the best exposure. Only one other tiny grower shares Markus's little hill, and it's in a lesser position to his north. The Gumphof family grew grapes and sold them to a co-op for many years until 1997, when Markus and his father decided to produce their own wine. As Markus said on the change to make their own wine:

"The main reason was my passion for wine. I no longer only wanted to be involved in viticulture but wanted to make wine. Combining the growing and production of wine is very challenging, even more so in the vertigo-inducing vineyards here at the Gumphof. If you are so closely involved in the growing of the vinegrapes as I am, you bear the finished product constantly in mind and I wanted to make the wine exactly the way I imagined it to be. I needed to be independent and free to take my decisions and reach my goals, therefore it was just natural to accept the difficult circumstances given by the steepness of the vineyards and realize my dream."

When you taste the wine, you know he means what he says and is accomplishing his goals.

The high altitude of the vines, ranging from 1100 to 1800 feet, allows the vineyards to enjoy direct summer sunlight along with cold crisp evenings to help achieve rich aromatics while keeping fine balance and an airy purity; hallmarks of the Gumphof wines. Naturally all of the work is managed by hand (and with sure feet). Markus has chosen to work organically in all aspects of his wine making to help highlight the expression and distinctions of his grapes and his ground.

Harvesting is done over several weeks as with the steep incline of vines, grapes reach maturity at different times. It is fascinating to taste from stainless steel tanks, the same varietal from different picking dates and different altitudes. Markus has a deft touch in blending cuvees to the final wine for bottling. While he began in 1997 with smaller, newer barrels for some wines, he has shifted to larger, older barrels, some made of acacia wood, which he feels brings greater definition and finesse to his wines. The Gumphof farm soil is an interesting combination of quartz types, interspersed with compacted alluvial sand, gravel, silt and clay; stripes of which are particular to parts of his vineyard.

The overall aspect of the place is one of a special uniqueness, which in the aspect of this patch of precipitous ground, has ultimately found the right caretaker.

**(Markus uses the classic arched "pergola" system for his vines)**

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Click on each wine for more detail.

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