Nusserhof—Heinrich Mayr, Südtirol Lagrein Riserva

Nusserhof is one of the most extraordinary wine farms in Italy. You’ve heard of “urban” winemaking? Well, this is the purest and perhaps most extreme example there is: The Mayr family has farmed the same land in Bolzano since the late-1700s, but while other farms were once their neighbors, now a modern city—the provincial capital—has literally grown up around their 2.5-hectare vineyard and family home. High-speed trains zip past the vineyard’s eastern border; the farm’s walnut trees (for which the winery is named) were cut down to make way for a bike path; but still, Heinrich and Elda Mayr organically farm the local Lagrein grape and make what is arguably the greatest expression of the variety currently available. This will no doubt be a familiar label to many, as Nusserhof is the kind of singular producer we delight in featuring on SommSelect. You’ve seen this wine before, and you’ll see it again, because it is such a uniquely delicious snapshot of a place—namely, the still-verdant, G