Abbazia di Novacella
Novacella Abbey is a historic winery in South Tyrol that can be considered as a kind of temple of winemaking in the Isarco Valley, an area interpreted for nearly 900 years by Augustinian canons to produce high quality wines. It was Blessed Artmann, bishop of Brixen, who founded the Augustinian canons' abbey in Novacella, amid imposing Dolomite rocks, making the place a religious, cultural and economic center. Even today, the Abbey is still animated by the clerics and is one of the oldest working wineries in the world. Alongside winemaking, the winery is also dedicated to the production of delicious apple juice from its own orchards.
The Abbazia di Novacella estate has 86 hectares of vineyards, partly directly owned and partly managed by trusted conferring partners, dedicated to traditional South Tyrolean varieties such as Müller-Thurgau, Sylvaner, Kerner, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling Renano and Grüner Veltliner among the white grapes, Schiava, Lagrein and Pinot Noir among the black grapes. Gewürztraminer and Moscato Rosa, technically classified as pink grapes, complete the varietal platform. The vines benefit from the high altitudes, between 600 and 900 meters above sea level, the Alpine climate and the high concentration of minerals in the soils. In particular, in the cool valley basin of Brixen, on soils consisting of moraine deposits, white varieties are grown, while further south, on porphyritic soils in the Bolzano area, red grapes grow. Finally, in Cornaiano, Pinot Noir grows on lean, gravelly, clay soils. In the winery, fermentations are carried out at controlled temperatures in stainless steel tanks, the same type of wine containers adopted for the maturation phase of most wines, with a portion aging instead in wooden barrels of various types and sizes.
Centuries of experience, combined with modern technology and the passion of those who work together in the vineyard and cellar, make the wines of Abbazia di Novacella rich in personality, with a tense mineral character typical of the Alto Adige region. The whites represent the spearhead of the production, with the 'Praepositus' line collecting the most valuable and quality expressions.
