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For fascinating reasons, Alto Adige is the home to a large number of successful cooperatives. Look for #4 on the map as the home of Cantina Kaltern. map courtesy of ItalianWineCentral.com

Italian Food, Wine & Travel Group Discovers Italian Wine Cooperatives
This month, our group of Italy fans is exploring the wine cooperatives of Italy.  Virtually every course, text, or article on cooperatives stresses how they produce just average wines. The growers are paid by the ton for their grapes, so there is no incentive to grow for quality. This is true in many grape growing regions of the world. Italy seems to be the exception with multiple examples of high quality wine cooperatives. Our group set out to find out why.

The vineyards are all around Lake Kaltern (aka the Kalterersee) map courtesy of https://www.kaltern.com/en/

Alto Adige Cooperatives and Cantina Kaltern
The early twentieth century was not kind to Alto Adige. The region was ceded by Austria over to become part of Italy, then the depression hit. For grape growers, Austrians no longer wanted their grapes or wines as they were now Italian. Italians considered them still part of Austria, so they wanted nothing to do with them either. Vineyard land on the valley floor was changed over to other, more profitable crops.

With grapevines planted on the hills, grapes were of good quality, but were unable to be machine harvested for inexpensive wines. Eventually, growers banded together into cooperatives in order to survive. Fortunately, they saw the value of high quality wines and set some key principals in place. In Kaltern these were their key principals:

• “Work by hand in the vineyard: the harvest takes place entirely by hand
• Professionalism, competence and modern techniques in the cellar
• Great passion of our families in the care of their vineyards
• The small parceling of the vineyards allows a quick and accurate work
• Security & flexibility thanks to the cooperative principles”

From the Cantina Kaltern website:

“Cantina Kaltern is an old-established cooperative winery representing a whole village and its wine growers. The winery is an ambassador for the wines produced on the shores of Lake Kaltern and especially for the variety Schiava (Kalterersee) – wines that are made by a community of vintners with great sensitivity, passion and expertise, wines with finesse and complexity and yet wonderfully uncomplicated.”

Note that if you’re planning to visit Alto Adige, Cantina Kaltern will happily welcome your visit, check here. They also include links to a variety of lodging choices including bed and breakfast and farm stays.

Disclosure: the wine in this post was provided as a media sample. All opinions expressed are mine.

“Kalterersee” is the name of the DOC, named after the lake.

Kellerei Kaltern Pfarrhof Kalterersee Classico Superiore DOC 2016 (sample, $20 SRP or online here) 13.5% abv

Kalterersee is the grape, also known as Schiava.  Which may not be of much help! Schiava is a red grape which makes light bodied red wines full of red fruit aromas and offering fresh acidity.

Eye: Clear, pale ruby color
Nose: Clean, medium intensity aromas of ripe strawberries, ripe cherries, a touch of cranberry behind. The fresh sweet ripe fruit dominates the nose. Behind the fruit are some floral notes of violets, and a hint of fresh organic earth and leather.
Mouth: Dry, medium+ flavor intensity. medium+ acidity, medium- fine grained ripe tannins, nice round texture with medium body, medium alcohol, and a medium finish. The flavors match the nose with fruit forward ripe red fruits including cranberries, strawberries, cherries.
Conclusions: A goo quality fruit-forward red wine. Balance and structure are good, but the aromas and flavors show just medium complexity relying on the fruit. Drink now to enjoy the bright fresh ripe fruit. This wine isn’t suitable for long term aging, but it should be enjoyable to drink over the next 5 years.

Enjoy a glass while you’re cooking.

Pasta Night with Cantina Kaltern Kalterersee (Schiava)
I had originally intended to make our normal weeknight “red sauce” based spaghetti to enjoy with this wine. I was reminded of recently seeing a new recipe in a magazine so I decided to give it a try and I’m so glad I did! While it does have tomatoes in the sauce, the flavors are dominated by all those peppers; a delicious change from the ordinary. The lively acidity in the wine paired beautifully with the bright flavors and acidic tomato sauce. Bucatini was also a fun twist on our normal spaghetti, as it’s much thicker and chewier. All in all a very nice meal and one we’ll repeat!

Italian Food Wine and Travel Group Cooperative Discoveries
Take a look at all the cooperative winery posts below. Who knew?
Want to join our chat to learn even more?  Just search for #ItalianFWT on Twitter and tune in 10-11am CST on Saturday Feb 1.  We’d love to hear what you think.

• • Cindy at Grape Experiences shares “On Wine Co-ops, Sicily’s Cantine Settesoli and Mandrarossa Winery“
  • Pinny at Chinese Food and Wine Pairings shares “Celebrate Chinese New Year, Observe Italian wine coop evolution, OMG yummy Prosecco!”
  • Katarina at Grapevine Adventures shares “Cincinnato – A Cooperative in Lazio Focused on Native Grapes“
  • Linda at My Full Wine Glass shares “Prosecco, coop-style: What do these tasters say?”
  • Jane at Always Ravenous shares “Popping the Corks on Cooperative Prosecco”
  • Marcia at Joy of Wine shares “Cooperetiva Produttori del Barbaresco“
  • Jen at Vino Travels Italy shares “Italian Wine Cooperatives with Prosecco from Val d’Oca”
  • Liz at What’s in That Bottle shares “What’s Up with Italian Wine Cooperatives?“
  • Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm shares “Godendo Aperitivo Prima di Cena “
  • Lynn at Savor the Harvest shares “Alpine Wine Cooperative – How Things Roll in Alto Adige“
  • Susannah at Avvinare shares “Visiting Lake Garda through the wines of Cantina Colli Morenici”
  • Jeff at Food Wine Click! shares “The Italian Wine Cooperative Surprise“
  • Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares “Hardworking Kids, Fresh Pasta, and a Red Wine from Vallevò“
  • Gwendolyn at Wine Predator matches ” 3 Bottles of Bubbles from Italy’s Val D’Oca Paired with Butternut Crab Bisque and Polenta Shrimp“
  • Nicole at Somm’s Table shares “The History of Amarone at Cantina Valpolicella Negrar, and Domìni Veneti Amarone Classico with Decadent, Braised Lamb Shanks“