Weingut Ebner, Blauburgunder

Like so many wineries in Italy’s mountainous, German-speaking Alto Adige, Weingut Ebner is a lot more than just a winery: It’s a full-immersion wine experience, with a tidy little wine tavern on site along with a chalet-style farmhouse inn, everything perched at 500 meters above the Isarco (Eisack) River northeast of Bolzano. It doesn’t get more “wine of place” than this, and if we’re ever going to veer away from our normal Pinot Noir haunts to offer an Italian expression, chances are it will hail from here.Lately, we can’t shut up about how great Pinot Noir from Germany has gotten, and this 2017 from Ebner—German in spirit, if not in letter—richly rewards an excursion outside one’s comfort zone. In fact, if you are someone who loves more finessed, upper-register styles of Pinot Noir, it’s imperative that regions like the Alto Adige (a.k.a. the Sütirol, or “South Tyrol”) be on your radar. High-elevation vineyards in the shadow of snow-capped Italian Alps are the source of today’s wine,