Winemaker Notes
KRIS wine is handcrafted in Alto Adige using grapes sourced from Italy’s most esteemed growing regions. The winery is located in the hillside town of Montagna, where culture is a unique reflection of Germanic heritage and Italian nationality. An ideal combination of traditional winemaking artistry and modern technology is used to blend each of the KRIS wines. The timeless and inspiring KRIS labels emphasize the role of the sun in ripening the grapes to perfection, the human hand in crafting the wine, and the lips that savor the wine. Riccardo Schweizer, a native of Alto Adige, studied cubism in Paris under Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró. The original paintings were given by Schweizer to his friend, the KRIS winery’s founder for his birthday.
Containing an exciting mix of wine producing subregions, Lombardy is Italy’s largest in size and population. Good quality Pinot noir, Bonarda and Barbera have elevated the reputation of the plains of Oltrepò Pavese. To its northeast in the Alps, Valtellina is the source of Italy’s best Nebbiolo wines outside of Piedmont. Often missed in the shadow of Prosecco, Franciacorta produces collectively Italy’s best Champagne style wines, and for the fun and less serious bubbly, find Lambrusco Mantovano around the city of Mantua. Lugana, a dry white with a devoted following, is produced to the southwest of Lake Garda.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”