These wines always make me happy. But then, I’m a sucker for any wine from north of the Po. I still shake my head that Lageder’s elegant Pinot Nero is under $20, has no equal in the US, and has to get here all the way from the crannies of the Dolomites. And people wonder why I roll my eyes at a $40 mediocre Oregon Pinot.

Mediocre is anathema to everything Alois Lageder does. He is a man entranced by art and deeply concerned with the future. He has a 150 year plan while I thought it was Tuesday all day today. He’s just gone through a label redesign, the first in decades, and instead of dippy marketers fluffing type in accordance to a piile of ridiculous market research, Alois contacted a few local artists to interpret aspects of his wine onto labels, the soil, the light, the color. Of course he did. (a seperate post on this later)

His wines are always elegant, superior examples of their type. The highlights of the day were:

2005 Portico de Leoni Bianco ($14-16) - Pinot Gris and Pinot Bianco with 10% Muller-Thurgau, this wine has the prettiest aromatics, creamy and crispy somehow, balancing a range of cool fruit flavors from melon to red apple. So right for a simple spaghetti with oil, rocket, pepper flake and your favorite tangy cheese.

And the big winner, the 2003 Pinot Noir ($18-20) - Excellent acidity and fresh, but not cloying, red raspberryish flavor, this is the best under $20 Pinot I’ve had in a while. Most importantly, it tastes like a goddamn Pinot, and not some insecure winemaker’s whored up version of the grape.

This Pinot is going to be one of my girls of summer, and if I were still somming I’d sell this bottle all night long. I’d put it on the list for a mere $38, then make my money by selling two or three bottles per table. And if I was still in retail, I’d have it stacked to the ceiling, with an open bottle behind the counter at all times.

*Alois Lageder is represented in the states by Dalla Terra.