Elena Walch Beyond The Clouds White Blend 2017
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A brilliant straw yellow characterizes the white cuvée “Beyond the Clouds.” On the nose, a complex, beguiling aroma game with notes of white flowers and fruit nuances from stone fruit and pineapple, capped by a fine mineral approach. Elegant and multi-layered, the wine presents itself with a discreetly integrated, restrained wood note on the palate: with finesse and power, exciting and with great development potential and a vibrant finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is always an eye-catching white, but 2017 is on another level. It takes you on a journey through a field of buttercups and edelweiss, before moving through riper notes of mangoes and apricot pastries. Candied citrus is always lingering in the background. The palate is where it really goes into another realm, though, opening through agile mineral and stoney nuances into denser tropical and stone fruit and then onto rich, structured phenolics. The salty finish is seemingly endless with acidity that sabers through the lightly oxidative aftertaste with subtle reduction. What a wine! This has to be the best ever from here — by a mile. Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Alto Adige Beyond The Clouds shows fragrant white flower aromas with a clear hydrocarbon-like signature of petrol and diesel fuel. Those latter aromas are even more pronounced in a hot and dry vintage such as this that tends to concentrate overall flavors and extract. This wine opens to a pretty golden appearance with tropical fruit aromas and a heavy, mid-weight texture. I would suggest a shorter drinking window here compared to recent past editions of this wine from cooler vintages. The base of the blend is Chardonnay, but many other white varieties are mixed in. Some 14,000 bottles were made.
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Wine
Elena Walch is a leading Alto Adige wine estate, in family hands, and belongs to the elite in Italian wine production, with international success. Encouraging quality and innovation, Elena Walch stood at the head of the Alto Adige quality revolution and has gained local and international esteem for her efforts.
The philosophy of the estate is dedicated to its terroir – the idea that wines must be the individual expression of their soil, climate and cultivation in the vineyard – and that this must be maintained according to principles of sustainability and passed on to the next generation.
The picturesque single estates of Castel Ringberg and Kastelaz are the heart of Elena Walch's vineyards, now working on a vineyard surface of 55ha. With sustainability being one of the core values at Elena Walch, the wines reflect the various terroirs they originate from. Finally, with the aim of making only the highest quality wines, Elena Walch has been honored with several national as well as international awards.
With hundreds of white grape varieties to choose from, winemakers have the freedom to create a virtually endless assortment of blended white wines. In many European regions, strict laws are in place determining the set of varieties that may be used in white wine blends, but in the New World, experimentation is permitted and encouraged. Blending can be utilized to enhance balance or create complexity, lending different layers of flavors and aromas. For example, a variety that creates a soft and full-bodied white wine blend, like Chardonnay, would do well combined with one that is more fragrant and naturally high in acidity. Sometimes small amounts of a particular variety are added to boost color or aromatics. Blending can take place before or after fermentation, with the latter, more popular option giving more control to the winemaker over the final qualities of the wine.
A mountainous northern Italian region heavily influenced by German culture, Trentino-Alto Adige is actually made up of two separate but similar regions: Alto Adige and Trentino.
Trentino, the southern half, is primarily Italian-speaking and largely responsible for the production of non-native, international grapes. There is a significant quantity of Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Merlot produced. But Trentino's native and most unique red variety, Teroldego, while still rare, is gaining popularity. It produces a deeply colored red wine rich in wild blackberry, herb, coffee and cocoa.
The rugged terrain of German-speaking Alto Adige (also referred to as Südtirol) focuses on small-scale viticulture, with great value placed on local varieties—though international varieties have been widely planted since the 1800s. Sheltered by the Alps from harsh northerly winds, many of the best vineyards are at extreme altitude but on steep slopes to increase sunlight exposure.
Dominant red varieties include the bold, herbaceous Lagrein and delicate, strawberry-kissed, Schiava, in addition to some Pinot Nero.
The primary white grapes are Pinot grigio, Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay and Pinot blanc, as well as smaller plantings of Sauvignon blanc, Müller Thurgau. These tend to be bright and refreshing with crisp acidity and just the right amount of texture. Some of the highest quality Pinot grigio in Italy is made here.