“Manni is the man!” my colleague called out as we pulled up to Manni Nössing’s winery last month. We were eager to see the charismatic first-generation vigneron and his vineyards in Alto Adige, or Südtirol, as it’s also known. The domaine is located in a high-elevation valley called Eisacktaler in German and Valle Isarco in Italian. As we walked through his vines, he pointed out the precise stone terracing required for farming these steep slopes, some of which needed rebuilding. It’s an extremely difficult production, all done by hand, and a trade that is quickly disappearing. 
     Manni’s nature is such that he can’t help but think about the next generations (though his own children are just fourteen and nine years old!). For instance, as he makes plans to rebuild the terraces, he’s also replanting vines in more optimal sites, mitigating changes like warmer vintages, or this year’s three months without snow or rain. In doing so, he’s planning ahead while preserving the integrity of the wines he makes from the place he was raised and loves. Tasting them, it’s easy to see why.
     If you don’t know Manni’s Kerner yet, you’re in for a treat. The vines sit at 700 meters above sea level, carved into the granite soils of the Dolomites. Technically, Manni is in the warmer slopes of the Predolomites, which is greatly beneficial because, as he notes, “Kerner gets sick as soon as it sees the clouds.” The 2024 bottling is delightfully croccante—one of my favorite onomatopoetic Italian words meaning “crunchy” or “crisp.” In this instance, it also perfectly describes the wine’s showstopping minerality. There’s loads of lime pith, stone fruit, and what my notes refer to as tantalizing acidity. 
     For lunch that day, Manni served a delicate white fish, grilled asparagus, and the most divine waxy yellow potatoes, simply boiled with a touch of salt. The table quieted for a moment as we took in the mingling of citrus, stoniness, and salinity. Manni grinned and told us how happy he was with this vintage. Despite the challenges of making wine in such extreme conditions, “La vita è bella, mamma mia!”