Karoline Walch, Elena Walch, and Julia Walch

Each week, as regular readers know, we pose a series of questions to a winemaker. This week, we’re featuring Elena Walch and her daughter, Karoline Walch, proprietors and visionaries at Elena Walch in Alto Adige.

Born in Milan, Elena had been an architect before marrying into a winemaking family in 1985 and moving to the Alto Adige. When she first arrived, Elena says she “became famous in a quick way,” as there were not many women in architecture at that time.

To add to her new neighbors’ curiosity, she then transitioned out of architecture and began to overhaul and make changes at the family’s winery. “Twenty five years ago,” she says, “being a woman in winemaking was very ‘suspicious.”

When Elena took the reins, Alto Adige was making a lot of red wine, namely Schiava. However, Elena started to plant more of the whites – at first, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, and Pinot Bianco. She also drastically lowered yields, made investments in different trellising, implemented higher density plantings, and began using high quality clones.

Over dinner with Elena and her daughter, Karoline (who manages U.S. marketing), their wines all showed beautifully. My favorite was the Pinot Bianco Kastelaz 2012, which comes from the steep hilly vineyards behind the local church. The wine is crisp and clean with depth and lovely floral notes. Elena says, “I find this wine more expressive than the Pinot Grigio, but it is not more loved. It’s like a hidden beauty.” Her Pinot Grigios (as recently called out by Lettie Teague) were also excellent and distinctive. Adding to Elena’s grape resume, she’s also been dubbed the “Queen of Gewürztraminer” by Gambero Rosso after accumulating so many bicchieri.

Get to know Elena and Karoline in the interview below the fold.

Castel Ringberg in Alto Adige

What is your general winemaking philosophy?

Elena: To produce wines that reflect local authenticity, relying on the identity of each vineyard: its climate, soil, and the human work in it. We are lucky to own such unique vineyards like Castel Ringberg and Kastelaz, one very different from the other. We want to express in our wines the uniqueness of each terroir.

Karoline: To be true to the region and produce wines that show the characteristics of where they are coming from. To me it all starts in the vineyards…

What’s open in your kitchen right now?

Elena: Elena Walch Pinot Bianco, mozzarella, tomatoes, and parmesan.

Karoline: Elena Walch Sauvignon Blanc Castel Ringberg 2013…and I am pleasantly surprised with that crisp vintage.

Who are your favorite winemakers in history, through personal account, or their wines? 

Elena: This is a tricky question. History shows that great paths have not been made by one single person, but by collaboration and shared ideas. The most famous Italian winemaker who gave the country’s wines a new glamour and value is Giacomo Tachis from Antinori (who created Tignanello, Solaia, and Sassicaia).

The enologist I most appreciate is the one with whom I’ve worked with since 1998. From the first day he joined us as a young enologist, Gianfranco Faustin understood the uniqueness of our terroirs. He’s been fundamental to our success.

Karoline: This is hard to answer. With all the wines available worldwide, I would say it is just amazing to see how each winemaker produces different wines and even different wine styles in the same region!

Angelo Gaja with his winemaker Guido Rivella, are two winemakers that I look up to. They realized early on that modernization was needed in order to get the highest quality and, from an early stage, they understood the importance of exporting. Nowadays, they are the icon winery of Italy.

What new winemakers are you most excited about, and why?

Elena: Those winemakers that are thinking about and reviving very old fashioned wines; for example, “orange wine” producers.

Karoline: I often look to new world winemakers. With less regulation, they can obviously experiment much more, do things differently in the cellar and most importantly, plant all sorts of grapes.

Kim Milne MS, for example, head winemaker at Bird in Hand (Adelaide Hills, Australia) and consulting winemaker for several Australian and European wineries, does a stunning job in experimenting with Italian varieties in Australia. It’s amazing for me to see how the wines are showing in the end, but (thankfully), I can say these wines reflect their terroir very well; hence, they are quite different from the “real” Italian ones!

How do you spend your days off? 

Elena: I relax in two ways: by enjoying the spirit of the mountain and, I must admit, by sipping a good glass of wine while relaxing on our terrace overlooking the valley of Alto Adige.

Karoline: Coming from Alto Adige, a mountainous area, I certainly love skiing during winter. In summertime I enjoy hiking on the Dolomite mountains. Like my mother, I love finishing my day by sitting back with a good glass of wine.

What’s the best wine you’ve ever tasted? The most interesting?

Elena: A Cheval Blanc 1982 made me really say, “Wow!”

Karoline: The most interesting for me was a bottle of Gewürztraminer from Dr. Konstantin Frank in the Finger Lakes.

What’s the oldest bottle in your cellar? The most expensive?

Elena: The oldest bottle is my Gewuerztraminer vintage 1989. The most expensive is Château Cos D´Estournel 1980.

Karoline: Having studied in Adelaide (Australia) and having only returned to Italy recently, I have to admit that my cellar still has a lot of space to be filled up with great wines. At the moment, the oldest and most expensive bottle is the Penfolds Grange vintage 2006.

If you had to pick one red and one white to drink for the next month with every dinner, what would you choose?

Elena: For red, I would go with Pinot noirs from different countries and for white, I would choose my Pinot Bianco – it so wonderfully reflects the Alpine Mediterranean climate of Alto Adige.

Karoline: Obviously having the cellar below my bedroom, it’s tempting to have a bottle of Elena Walch all the time…but it’s  important to be open minded and taste through different wines, regions, and countries.

For the red, I would jump across the Atlantic and have a bottle of the Shiraz “Freedom” from Langmeil, which comes from very old vines (over 100 years old!). For the white, I would re-taste the Vie di Romans Pinot Grigio “Dessimis” from Friuli. Certainly a totally different Pinot Grigio with some cold maceration.

What’s your biggest challenge as a winemaker? 

Elena: To produce great quality in the bottle with the lowest possible impact on nature and environment. The sustainable approach is the core of our business.

Karoline: First it is important to produce wines in a sustainable way and a way that is true to terroir. Second, to keep in mind a long-term vision which will align with and satisfy demand.

What’s your favorite wine region in the world — other than your own?

Elena: The Austrian Wachau on one side and the Californian Napa wines on the other side – they reflect two distinct edges of winemaking styles.

Karoline: Personally, Piedmont, Margaret River, Mosel, and Burgundy are amongst my favorites.

Is beer ever better than wine?

Elena: With pizza, definitely!

Karoline: Yes, when I don´t have proper glassware with me, then I certainly prefer a beer out of the bottle/can.

What would people be surprised to know about you?

Elena: That when I was 20 years old, I mostly drank Sangria!!!

Karoline: That at the age of 17, I did a one-year high school exchange in New Zealand…I almost did not want to return back home to Italy. Things would have gone differently then…

If you weren’t making wine for a living, what would you be doing? 

Elena: I would be building homes since my background is as an architect.

Karoline: I always grew up with the idea of running our estate at some point. Perhaps, if things were different, I would now be sitting in a large office doing banking, consulting or  something similar? At this stage, however, I could not imagine doing something different than what I am doing right now.

How do you define success?

Elena: Reaching my goals, which means to produce the best quality wines and to be in the position to leave a solid and healthy family business in the hands of my daughters.

Karoline: Success for me is the ability to have a long term vision, to work towards strong goals and finally, to be able to look back and be proud of what we’ve achieved.