For an Alto Adige cooperative winery, the Cantina Colterenzio is comparatively young. In 1960, some 26 winegrowers joined together to form a cooperative in the hamlet of Colterenzio in the village of Cornaiano in the community of Appiano in order to create a counterweight to the wine dealers. Today, three hundred winegrowers belong to the Cantina Colterenzio. The counterweight has thus grown heavier and heavier.

A magnetic effect was exerted by the Cantina Colterenzio above all else in the 1980s under the leadership of Luis Raifer, because he consistently pushed for quality. His strategy had a simple background: the conditions were right. “The terroir was favorable, there were sufficient grape growing areas available, and the winegrowers were doing tireless work,” says today’s winemaker Martin Lemayer, summarizing the starting situation.

At that time, the Cantina Colterenzio began to focus on new varieties and rigid procedures which came down to: smaller yields lead to high-quality grapes and thus high-quality wine. These procedures as the basis of a consistent quality policy also continue to hold true today.

The members of the Cantina Colterenzio now manage 300 hectares of vineyards at elevations between 230 and 650 meters, and thus completely different soils. Fourteen different grape varieties grow here. White wines are made from 65 percent of them, and only 35 percent become red wines.

And by the way: even if the Cantina Colterenzio is relatively young, the history of winegrowing on the hill around Cornaiano is not. Wine from this area appeared in documents as early as 1200, as “vinum schrechpuhlensis”.