The South Tyrol Wine Route is a 150 km long route between Nalles and Bolzano through Südtirol, Bassa Altesina and Oltradige. It was awarded a prize at the 2009 ‘Roma Wine Festival’ as the most fascinating of the 140 wine routes dotting Italy from north to south: it is also one of the oldest, having been established in 1964.
Travelling the South Tyrolean Wine Route
The South Tyrolean Wine Road leads to the discovery of characteristic villages, ruined castles, historic houses and wine cellars, where you can taste delicious white and red wines, such as Lagrein, Gewürztraminer, Schiava, Souvignon and Riesling.
The Laimburg Winery in Ora-Vadena is well worth a visit along the Wine Road. Its vineyards cover an area of 20 hectares, situated between 200 and 750 metres above sea level. This is where the varietal and vintage “Vini del Podere” are produced, which are matured in oak barrels and steel tanks. Then there are the wines that are part of the “Selezione del Maniero”, individually vinified in oak barrels and bearing names that refer to timeless Ladin legends.
In the Laimburg Winery, the wines can be tasted in the spectacular setting of the Cantina nella Roccia, made from the porphyry of Monte di Mezzo: two bronze sculptures of the Muses of Wine, created by Guido Anton Muss, welcome visitors ready to immerse themselves in a true sensory experience.
What to see along the South Tyrolean Wine Route
A trip along this enchanting road will take you to Bolzano, for example, with its beautiful Piazza Walther, the cathedral with its polychrome roof and the “South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology”, which houses the more than 5000-year-old mummy Ötzi.
The route then passes through the villages of Eppan with its castle dating back to 1100 and Kaltern, famous for its lake of the same name with the warmest water in the whole of the Alps, but also for its small Wine Museum.
Termeno, the town of the aromatic Gewürztraminer wine, has the highest church tower in Südtirol and the beautiful St. Jakob’s Church in Kastelaz with its impressive bestiary fresco. Termeno also has an interesting museum, the “Hoamet Tramin Museum”, dedicated to the wine-growing tradition and rural life in the village in the past.
Passing through Cortaccia you can take the short Wine Trail, which takes the visitor through the surrounding farmsteads dating back to the 13th-17th centuries, some of the most characteristic in Südtirol.
It is impossible not to mention Salorno, a small Baroque-Renaissance jewel whose main landmark is the 13th-century Haderburg Castle. Also worth a visit, in the hamlet of Pochi, is the Sculpture Garden with bronze and marble installations in the shadow of Monticello and Monte Alto.
Haderburg Castle
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