(Manfred Klimek / animated pic: runwayml)
Alois Lageder is a man known in South Tyrol, even beyond the world of wine, as a socio-political figure of many years’ standing. South Tyrol, already a region caught between ethnic groups and circumstances, found someone important in Lageder at an early stage who did not see these interstitial spaces as a problem, but as an opportunity.
I first met Alois Lageder at the end of the 1980s, not because of his wines. At the time, I was in South Tyrol working on a political report about the resurgence of ultra-right, German-nationalist forces in the shadow of the first successes of Austria’s FPÖ. Twenty years after the last bomb attacks by the Tyrolean Liberation Movement, the mood in the region was tense again, and relations between the language groups once more very fragile. Much seemed to be setting the ethnic conflict up for another airing.
And then, in the middle of this report, came this visit to Lageder. No conversation about politics, at least not in the narrower sense. Instead, a tour of a recently acquired, partly derelict Tyrolean manor house. And there, almost in passing, the presentation of an idea: Löwengang. Back then, only the red wine (which I have remained loyal to for years because of that experience). Conceived internationally. But not as a departure, rather as an expansion. Lageder was certain that something was shifting in South Tyrol. That economic integration in the region would also ease social tensions. A confidence that at that time was anything but self-evident. And Alois Lageder was right.
Today, much of this appears to have been fulfilled. South Tyrol is economically stable, multilingualism has become a matter of course, and it is internationally connected. Lageder not only accompanied this journey, but shaped it in his own sector and beyond. The estate in Magrè (with the Osteria and Vinothek “Paradeis” — a genuine paradise) is among the first in this now oenologically exciting region to work consistently biodynamically. Not, of course, as greenwashing, but as a system. Viticulture as a cycle, as an agricultural whole in which vines, animals and soils are considered together.
The wines embody this way of working without parading it. The Löwengang has remained, by now in several variations. The Chardonnay is one of the best-known interpretations of the variety in Italy, with substance but without exaggeration. The Cabernet Löwengang shows how this international grape variety can find its own form here without denying its origins as a quality grape for the masses.
Alongside these are wines conceived more strongly from the region itself. The Terra Alpina Pinot Grigio, often underestimated because it is approachable, yet precise and clear. The Porer Pinot Grigio, which shows what this variety can achieve beyond indiscriminate popularity. And finally the Casòn Bianco (grape varieties: Viognier, Petit Marsanne, Rousanne, Marsanne, Semillon and Assyrtiko), a cuvée that eludes any quick classification and remains so extremely exciting precisely because of that.
Today, the estate is run by Alois Lageder’s son, Alois Clemens Lageder. The transition took place without a break, which is no surprise given the thoughtfully run estate. The direction remains, while the decisions continue to evolve. You can tell that no completed model is being administered here, but that an open system is continuing to operate.
Once a year, this system is also opened up to the outside world. SUMMA is the name of the small wine fair organised by Lageder, held at the same time as Vinitaly in Verona, but on a completely different scale. No major event, no trade-fair bustle, but a concentrated meeting of winegrowers who share a similar understanding of wine. Here you find bottles that are rarely seen alongside one another elsewhere. Here, people taste, discuss and compare. Here, wine is contemplated, as the philosophically gifted Alois Lageder once envisaged it.
SUMMA is therefore more than just another wine-fair event. It is a distillation of what Lageder has built up over decades: a network, an idea of viticulture, a way of treating one another. There, you meet winegrowers from France, Austria, Germany and Italy who do not define themselves by market shares, but by their work.
When you look at Lageder today, you see no single wine and no single project, but an entire structure. An estate that has changed over the years without having to reinvent itself, by constantly reinventing itself. Giovanni di Lampedusa sends his regards. A region once so thoroughly divided into its ethnic groups and valleys grew together and offers an international example of the success of regions that are politically difficult too. That would no longer be possible today, in times of social-media hatred.