Cantina Kurtatsch, Alto Adige (Italy) Schiava 2020

 I’ve adored this wine in every vintage I’ve tasted, and this 2020 rendition is surely no exception.  It is a marvelously delicate wine, with truly light body that has become difficult to find as so many established areas are growing warmer.  In terms of aroma and flavor, it over-delivers in relation to its weight, which is exactly the formula for success at the summer table.  Red fruit notes predominate in both the bouquet and on the palate, with cranberry and wild strawberry coming first to mind when searching for descriptors.  There’s no evidence of wood tannin at all, so if this saw the inside of any barrels, they must have been big, or old, or coopered with steam rather than fire.  By the way, as this is from Alto Adige, every element in the wine’s designation also appears in German, so this also reads as Vernatch (instead of Schiava) made from old vines (Alte Reben) in Südtirol (instead of Alto Adige) by Kellerei (rather than Cantina) Kurtatsch.  As the Italians won World War I, I prefer to go with Italian verbiage, but still feel the need to clear this up.  Almost ethereal in feel but still quite aromatic and flavorful, this is simply gorgeous.