Wine from the Monastery
One of the largest private estate wineries in Alto Adige
The Wilhelm Walch Estate Winery has its headquarters in a former Jesuit monasteryin the picturesque winegrowing village of Termeno. The estate has
existed since 1869, and today, five generations after its founding, it
is one of the largest private estate wineries in Alto Adige.
Precisely because of the lengthy history and the unusual location,
it is worthwhile to first take a look at its headquarters when visiting
the Wilhelm Walch Estate Winery. Not only is it housed in a former
monastery, it also has one of the loveliest historical cellars in the
region. In it, large wooden barrels decorated with artistic carvings
age, while the barrique cellars with the small oak casks are housed in
the deep vaulted cellar.
Because this area is so picturesque and
puts its stamp on the estate winery but hardly even allows functional
work, the manor was extended several years ago with a fermenting cellar.
“Through the use of highly modern technology, the new winery makes
possible the gentlest possible grape processing for the production of
the finest quality wines,” explains Walch, the one who provided his name
to the estate winery.
The raw material for these quality wines
grows and thrives – tended in a sustainable manner in a way that is
gentle on the environment – in vineyards on the Mendel Pass filled with
Gewurztraminer, as well as in Caldaro and Cortaccia. These are
distributed across elevations from 250 to 700 meters and the largest
section is extremely steep. That already implies that the harvest takes
place with great commitment and by hand. There are also advantages to
the steep location. “These vineyards,” Walch is convinced, “lend our wines the fresh, precise fruit.”