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2017 Alto Adige Merlot-Cabernet Sauvignon “Iugum”
Peter Dipoli
While this red consists of grape varieties originating outside of Alto Adige, it tastes as local as can be. Peter Dipoli chose to plant Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon in the mountains of northern Italy after extensively surveying the land, accounting for every nuance of soil and climate with the lofty ambition to make an age-worthy wine defined by its place of origin. Over thirty years later, his gamble has paid off. Pour it in a lineup of great Bordeaux growths and Napa’s finest to see how a similar blend behaves in a radically different environment. In its prime now, the 2017 can still be cellared for many more years.
—Anthony Lynch
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2017 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | 80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon |
Appellation: | Alto Adige |
Country: | Italy |
Region: | Alto Adige |
Producer: | Peter Dipoli |
Winemaker: | Peter Dipoli |
Vineyard: | Planted in 1992, 1.1 ha |
Soil: | Clay, Limestone |
Aging: | Wine ages in bottle until 4 years after harvest |
Farming: | Sustainable |
Alcohol: | 14% |
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About The Producer
Peter Dipoli
About The Region
Alto Adige
In the heart of the Dolomites, Alto Adige is Italy’s northernmost wine region. Having changed hands multiples times in its history between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire (it shares a border with Austria), it boasts strong Germanic influence on its culture, language, cuisine, as well as its wines.
The mountainous geography is the principal determinant of local winemaking styles, with the high-altitude vineyards and cool Alpine climate favoring primarily crisp, racy, aromatic whites from varieties like Kerner, Sauvignon, Müller Thurgau, and Grüner Veltliner. A Mediterranean influence on climate is channeled north up the valley until Bolzano, permitting the cultivation of certain reds as well, among which Schiava, Lagrein, Pinot Nero, and Merlot fare best.
Small growers who once sold fruit to the area’s multiple co-ops are now increasingly bottling their own wines. The arrival of many quality-oriented artisans on the scene caught our eye years ago, and we now count three estates from Südtirol, as it is also known, in our portfolio. These high-acid mountain wines make for a beautifully invigorating aperitivo with thinly sliced speck, a local specialty.
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Where the newsletter started

Where the newsletter started
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch