Hofstätter Gewürztraminer "Kolbenhof" 2022

Gewürztraminer from the grape's own birthplace — and its greatest cru.

The village of Tramin in Alto Adige gave Gewürztraminer its name, and the family estate of J. Hofstätter has farmed its slopes for over a century — the only producer in the region with vineyards on both banks of the Adige, some 50 hectares across the valley's finest sites. Kolbenhof, the amphitheater of vines above the village itself, is by broad agreement the grape's greatest single cru.

The winemaking honors the fruit: hand harvest into small trays, a short maceration on the skins to draw out the variety's aromatics, cool fermentation, then eight months on the fine lees with weekly bâtonnage. The result is lychee, yellow rose, apricot and smoked spice with real concentration — opulent on the nose, precise on the palate.

The 2022 carries a 94-point critic average → the strongest showing for this cuvée in twenty-five years of vintages — and trades around $55 online. Ours is $50.99. Twenty-five bottles.