South Tyrol's wine history goes back to well beyond the Roman period. This region was part of the Roman province of Rhaetia and its wines were in high demand among the eternal city's patricians. Now, some 2000 years later, South Tyrolean wines are more popular than ever thanks to a 20 year-long strive to maximise quality in both the vineyard and cellar. This involves drastically reducing vineyard yields in favour of quality, rigorously selecting grapes and adopting winemaking techniques which express each grape's varietal character to the full.

Homeopathy instead of Chemistry
Loacker has been practising biological wine-growing techniques since 1979. The work is difficult, strenuous and meticulous but the final results are highly rewarding, a fact which has been amply demonstrated by their success. Their cultivation methods are of a preventive nature. Sulphur and copper sulphate are used in low concentrations and guard against fungal and other vine ailments. During extreme hot and cold periods or when the vines are subject to excessive stress the plants are assisted using natural methods. By these means Loacker assists, protect and substain the vines throughout the vegetation period. Tradition and technology, history and quality oriented innovation are a continuation of this work once the grapes have been picked and delivered to the winery.
White Wines
Grapes are rigorously selected during picking. White wine grapes are de-stemmed and pressed, while aromatic varieties are crushed and cold macerated with the skins for a brief period prior to pressing, which takes place at low pressure (2 atmospheres). The must is subsequently clarified by natural sedimentation. The grapes are pressed and once clarified by natural sedimentation and the must is subsequently fermented in stainless steel tanks at a constant temperature of around 17° C. Very concentrated musts may be fermented in barrique and left on the fine lees for 3 to 10 months. Elegant white wines with accentuated fruit meant for early drinking do not undergo malolactic fermentation and are fined with bentonite in order to prevent them from becoming clouded later by protein precipitation. Wines which are fermented in oak and matured on the fine lees, which are periodically stirred up using 'bâtonnage' undergo malolactic fermentation and there is no need for them to be fined. The cold temperatures during winter facilitate the natural precipitation of tartrate crystals in tank. Once it is completely stable the wine can be sterile filtered and bottled. It is best to wait 2 to 3 months after bottling before drinking young white wines to enable them to get over 'bottle sickness'. In this time the free sulphur, which is necessary as an antioxidant but can seem aggressive in freshly bottled wines, will also become neutralised.
Red Wines 
Red varieties are also carefully selected during picking. The berries are separated from the stems, lightly crushed and left to ferment, partly in stainless steel and partly in oak. Our winemaking methods are a happy combination of tradition and modern technology. This includes pumping the fermenting must over the skins as they are driven to the surface, thereby forcing them back down into the liquid in order to extract a maximum of colour and ripe tannins, especially in the case of rich, concentrated, complex wines. Malolactic fermentation, whereby the tart-tasting malic acid is transformed into the much milder lactic acid, yields round, smooth, velvety wines Our red wines are not fined. Young wines intended for early drinking are filtered while those which are matured in barrique for over 2 years are either not, or only lightly filtered. The fact that red wines require only small amounts of free sulphur to protect them after bottling means that they can be enjoyed earlier after release than white wines.

 

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