AUTOCHTONA AWARD 2021
By Carol Agostini
A total of 14 awards were presented at the 18th Autochtona Award 2021, the award organised on 18–19 October 2021 at the Bolzano Trade Fair, which promotes wines made from native Italian grape varieties. A large tasting desk welcomed trade operators and wine lovers.
There was great excitement in the halls of Fiera Bolzano to meet the winners of the Autochtona Awards, the prizes reserved for wines made from indigenous grape varieties announced at Italy’s largest forum dedicated to indigenous grape varieties grown throughout Italy.
Autochtona, as usual, was held at Hotel, the international trade fair dedicated to the hotel and restaurant industry, and was organised around a large tasting desk managed by the AIS sommeliers of the Alto Adige section, who welcomed trade professionals and wine lovers.
A unique opportunity to taste almost 500 wines from all over Italy, made from grape varieties that are now well-known and widespread in many regions, as well as varieties that risked extinction and have found a home in specific areas.
“This year we have been able to fully implement the new Autochtona formula we devised last year,” explained Thomas Mur, Director of Fiera Bolzano. “Many producers, whom we would like to thank, trusted us and sent their samples not only to participate in the Autochtona Awards, but also to take part in what has become the largest tasting desk dedicated to wines from indigenous grape varieties in Italy. It was an opportunity that all the visitors greatly appreciated and which highlighted the work that so many vignerons do on a daily basis and which deserves to be told, as we have been doing for the past 18 years.
Award-winning wines
All the wines tasted were the same as those that participated in the Autochtona Awards, including the 14 award-winning wines.
The Best Sparkling Wines are those of Cantina della Volta, a company from Emilia Romagna that has often excelled in this category in Bolzano: the Lambrusco di Sorbara Spumante Doc Brut Rosè 2016 convinced the jury.
Still on the subject of bubbles, but this time obtained with the Ancestral Method, one of the two new entries among the awards of this edition. The winner is once again a Lambrusco di Sorbara from Emilia, produced by the Marchesi di Ravarino winery with the 2020 vintage.
The Etna area won two awards: the prize for Best White Wine went to Etna Bianco DOC Ante 2018, made from the Carricante grape variety and produced by the “I Custodi delle Vigne dell’Etna” winery, while the Best Rosé Wine went to Etna Rosato DOC “Piano dei Daini” 2019, made by Tenute Bosco from the Nerello Mascalese variety.
A Malvasia di Candia Aromatica dei Colli Piacentini from the 2015 vintage was the wine that won the Best Orange Wine award for the first time, the second new entry in this edition, produced by the Emilian company Torre Fornello.
The award for Best Red Wine comes from Valle d’Aosta, the home of indigenous grape varieties with great personality: it is the Mayolet of the Di Barrò winery with the 2019 vintage.
For the second year running, the Best Sweet Wine is once again a Vin Santo from Vigoleno, namely that of Alberto Lusignani, made with Santa Maria and Melara grapes and in a minimum blend with Bervedino and Ortrugo.
The Tasting Lagrein section, dedicated to the indigenous South Tyrolean red grape variety of the same name, saw three wines excel in the three historic categories of this award: Best Lagrein Rosé was won by Pfannenstielhof’s Mitterberg IGT Lagrein Rosé 2020, Best Lagrein Vintage went to Südtirol-Alto Adige Lagrein DOC Badl 2019 from the St. Quirinus estate, and Best Lagrein Riserva was deemed to be the Südtirol-Alto Adige Lagrein DOC Riserva 2015 from the St. Peter estate of Roland Gamper. Quirinus, while Best Lagrein Riserva was considered the Südtirol-South Tyrol Lagrein DOC Riserva 2015 from Roland Gamper’s St. Peter Estate.
Autochtona Award Special Mentions
The Terroir Award went to Damijan Podversic of Friuli with his 2017 IGT Venezia Giulia Ribolla Gialla, while the Spirito diVino Award, from the magazine of the same name, went to Buranco, with its 2018 Sciacchetrà.
The Premio Giovani Vignaioli Vinarius, awarded by the historic Association of Italian Wine Shops Vinarius to the best winemaker under 40, went to Alberto Zini of Tenuta La Riva with his Colli Bolognesi Pignoletto DOCG Spumante Pinus Laetus 2016.
Finally, the Tannico Award, assigned by the famous online wine shop, goes to Valle d’Aosta Fumin DOC 2019 by Les Crêtes.
The Autochtona Award jury this year was chaired by the well-known critic and journalist Daniele Cernilli (DoctorWine) and included Giuseppe Carrus (Gambero Rosso), Fabio Giavedoni (Slow Wine), Andrea Gori (Intravino), Christine Mayr (Vitae-AIS), Alessandra Piubello (I Vini di Veronelli), Marco Rossi (Tannico), Leila Salimbeni (Spirito diVino), Alessandro Franceschini (Viniplus di Lombardia), Pierluigi Gorgoni (journalist, oenologist and lecturer at the Alma school).
Together with them, thanks to collaboration with the ICE Agency, international professionals of the calibre of Richard Baudains (Decanter), Paula Bosch (sommelier, journalist and writer), John Brunton (The Guardian), Sigi Hiss (Vinum) and Anders Levander (DinVinguide) completed the jury.
An event that once again this year offered tasting emotions of great value, important because it bears witness to the fact that more and more Italian producers are moving towards high product quality.
Rich in appointments, Autochtona took place on 18 October with tasting activities supervised by professional sommeliers. However, producers were not present, due to restrictions imposed by Covid-19.
At Autochtona, the first Masterclass on Tradition in Evolution: Gewürztraminer was held; an interesting topic that dealt with a grape variety with great territorial personality.
Another event was Tutte le sfumature del rosa, il rosé una moda che non tramonta, an appointment that could not be missed, given our active presence at the national competition on pink wines conceived and organized by Renato Rovetta (journalist, taster, creator of the Guide Rosa, Rosati Rosè il Bere rosa).
Autochtona ended with the Masterclass: The autochthonous in sparkling wine, there is life beyond chardonnay and pinot noir, an event that could not be missed especially for the information that has been drawn in relation to the potential of chardonnay in sparkling wine processing.
The following day, the Masterclass on Calabria: a heritage of indigenous grape varieties to be discovered provided an opportunity to explore a fascinating world of little-known grape varieties with great potential for quality and production.
The last Masterclass of the second day was dedicated to Images from Trentino Alto Adige, the Territory in the Women of Wine Lounge, with the participation of well-known personalities in the area, including the speaker and taster Rosaria Benedetti and Maddalena Nardin from the Villa Corniole winery.
OUTochtona!
The day ended with OUTochtona!, a further overview of native Italian wines offered to the press and trade at a small tasting desk. A selection of last year’s award nominees, which were not included in the 2020 edition due to COVID, could be tasted.
The Bolzano event was an opportunity to visit the Pfitscher Estate in Montagna and to taste supernatural wines, which are increasingly advancing in quality and market demand both in Italy and abroad, at the Vinea Tirolensis tasting counters.
Event reference site: https://www.fierabolzano.it/it/autochtona/home
Article reference site: www.foodandwineangels.com
Thanks to the staff of Fruitecom, Stefano Malagoli’s communication agency, for their hospitality.
