Falkenstein

Amidst the Alpine peaks of the Vinschgau Valley in South Tyrol, driven by their love for this land and their visceral passion for the world of wine, the Pratzner family founded the Falkenstein winery in 1995. The estate, located in Naturno, officially saw its beginnings when Bernadette and Franz Pratzner decided to give up apple cultivation to devote themselves exclusively to wine growing. Today, the couple, assisted by their daughters Magdalena and Michaela, look after this little piece of land where the presence of vineyards was already mentioned in a 12th century document. The Pratzners are also dedicated to distilling fine single-varietal grappa.
The Falkenstein estate has 14 hectares of vineyards located on terraces facing south and south-west, at an altitude of between 600 and 900 metres above sea level. Rhenish Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir are the vines grown, rooted at the foot of the Sonnenberg on steep slopes consisting of clay and sandy soils of moraine origin, rich in minerals such as granite, slate, mica, quartz and gneiss. The vineyards here are characterised by very high planting densities of between 9,000 and 13,000 vines per hectare. Agronomic operations are mainly carried out by hand with care and attention, including of course the grape harvest. In the cellar, the white wines mature in large acacia wood barrels while the Pinot Noir, the only red wine produced by the estate, stays in oak barriques, with ageing taking place in special ageing rooms dug into the rock. Finally, all the whites are bottled with screw caps, in order to always have clean and faultless wines.
The Falkenstein cellar's interpretations are striking for their pronounced aromas and disruptive freshness. The pride of the Pratzner family is the Riesling, a semi-aromatic variety that gives rise to the 'Alte Reben' and 'Anadûron' labels, two refined expressions with a pronounced mineral tone, produced in limited quantities through a selection of the best grapes.