Taking a Shine to Lagrein

Remember Brad Pitt in that movie "A River Runs Through It"? Strong, brash, handsome, quick with a joke. His parents loved him to death. He wore a beautiful woman as comfortably as dungarees, could dance like Bojangles and fly fish like Hemingway. Yet despite all his outsized and glorious attributes, he refused to abandon his small Montana valley for the glory of bigger cities and brighter lights.

God I hated that asshole.

Imagine, however, that you could infuse red berries with that same combination of bold attributes and undersized profile and squeeze the living juice out of them! Distill their power and smoothness and bottle it! Then imagine that you could stash it away in your cellar for only you and your local friends to enjoy. I imagine the result would be far more enjoyable (for me), because I imagine it would be something close to Italy's lagrein.

Lagrein [la-GRINE] originated (and remained) in the Alto Adige region along the Italian/Austrian border. Called Südtirol by the German speaking residents, the area fell victim to a tug of war between Austria and Italy during the two world wars, and the region is still decidedly Austrian in feel. German, not Italian, is the common tongue and Lagrein is a very German word.

Why do I pine for lagrein?

1. Lagrein is a rustic and deliciously rich Italian red wine. Long ago lagrein staked out the frigid foothills of the Italian Dolomite mountain range as its home, but it is far more inviting than the climate that produces it. A balanced and complex drink, lagrein is big, rich, and redolent of dark berries on the nose while often adding a smooth, almost chocolaty mouthfeel and long, slightly bitter finish. It's a saga from start to finish. It has rewarded locals with its loyalty though it has occasionally tip-toed out to enrich the winter months of a few far-off wine lovers.

2. Lagrein is truly a small town kid. It is currently planted on roughly 750 acres in and around Bolzano, the local capital (to put that into perspective in Chicago, that's about 1/3 the size of Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood). With a few scattered exceptions, that's it. The locals would love to grow more of it, but the problem isn't the sturdiness of the grape. It's the land. In the rugged Alto Adige, if vineyard land isn't hard to find, it's expensive. Martin Foradori Hofstätter, winemaker for Steinraffler vineyards in Tramin and a great lagrein vintner, told the New York Sun that he paid 350,000 euros for 2 1/2 acres of vineyard in 2005. Those numbers look far larger when you consider lagrein's small market and lack of international press.

3. The potential of lagrein is far larger that its acreage. Look no further than the wine's trademark dark fruit and chocolate flavor (it has been called a cross between Pinot Noir and Syrah). Lagrein is actually a harshly tannic and rustic-style grape, and it takes quite a bit of work from the winemaker to tame them. In fact, for years most of lagrein yields were used for rose wines (called lagrein rosato, it is considered Italy's finest pink wine). It has been only recently that lower maceration times and/or oak barrel aging have brought the tannins down to the complimentary level.

4. It's relatively cheap. Quality red lagrein (sometimes called lagrein scuro or lagrein dunkel, though I personally have not encountered such a label yet in Chicago) can be had for $18-$25.

5. They last. Most wines get nasty even a day after being opened. But Lagrein is a classically rustic, "rough around the edges" wine that can absorb a little oxygen beat-down. Every version I tried actually tasted better the day after it was opened. And even the youngest versions benefit greatly from some decanting. You can open the wine on Friday and still enjoy delicious lagrein from that same bottle on Sunday - no problem.

Here's what's available here in Chicago:

La Vis 'Dipinti' Lagrein 2006
Retail: $13 at Fine Wine Brokers (4621 N Lincoln Ave)
Wonderful expression of the grape for a great price. Dark fruit, slightly vegetal nose with intense blackberry and leather once its in the mouth with a little acidity. This one is not shy with the oak and tannin.

Mayr-Nusser Lagrein "Riserva" Alto Adige 2003
$22 at Sam's Wine & Spirits
Superb. A wonderful 'woodsy' nose and full-bodied with blackberry and tobacco. Aged for three years but without oak, so it's a nice 'naked' version of the grape (decant this one!). I would have to think that this wine would age wonderfully.

Alois Lageder Lagrein 2004
$17 at Binny's
*Tasting notes coming soon!

Donati "Vino del Maso" IGT, Dolomiti 2006
$17 at Sam's Wine & Spirits
*Tasting notes coming soon!