Is Summa the Future of Wine Fairs?
Gatherings dedicated to wines outside the mainstream have become ubiquitous. Even so, one fair seems to cut through the noise: Summa. This small event, held each spring ahead of the global trade convention Vinitaly, has established itself as the grande dame of the alternative wine scene. But it’s fair to ask: with so much competition, does Summa still shine?
It’s early April and the sun glistens on the peaks of the Alps, which remain white even now. On the southbound train from Bozen, the mood is good. It’s 10 am but temperatures have already reached high-summer levels. Arriving in the small town of Magreid, a mountain village character melds with Mediterranean influences. The tiny train station here resembles a lively Italian piazza. The local fire department channels the flow of arrivals toward the Lageder family estate.
A family a-fair
Summa began 28 years ago, when winemaker and local eminence Alois Lageder invited business partners to join him for dinner ahead of Vinitaly. That dinner has since become an annual tradition – and much more. This year, Lageder opened his doors to 114 estates and 2,400 visitors over two days.
The Lageder’s manor house, Ansitz Casòn Hirschprunn, was built in 1363 as a farmhouse. Early medieval rusticity eventually gave way to Italian Renaissance and Baroque. Ansitz Löwengang, just around the corner and dating to the 16th century, has been the estate’s home since 1934. In a place already full of history, each vintage of Summa writes a new chapter — adding to 200 years of wine history for the family and 600 years of cultural history for this village.
TRINK readers might well imagine Summa as an “Auslese” of notable estates from around the “umlaut” universe. The outside world has caught on. Lageder’s daughter, Helena, handles sales and marketing for the event. “We’ve never sold this many tickets this fast,” she notes. These old spaces feel ready to burst at the seams.
Visitors are drawn to Summa for the wines, of course. But also because the event is infused with moments of grandezza, pleasure, and relaxation. That’s how Andreas Wickhoff MW of Weingut Bründlmayer in Austria’s Kamptal sees it: “Summa reflects the Lageders themselves: So much history, and yet they never refuse to pursue new paths. It’s a very fertile approach. Everybody loves the culinary components as well. The entire village helps in putting regional products on the plates.” All this is set against an irresistible backdrop: Mediterranean date palms and Alpine Dolomites.
A wine fair that “doesn’t feel like a trade fair”
If Vinitaly is the prêt-à-porter side of the wine world, Summa is the avant-garde of tailored trade fairs. Extending the analogy, this makes Alois Lageder the Giorgio Armani of winegrowers and Magreid the unlikely Alpine Milan of high fashion. Of course, TRINK isn’t Vogue, so who are we to say whether the Devil drinks Lageder?
But Theo Zierock of Trentino’s Agricola Foradori likes to joke that the family, with whom he lived for five years together with his father, the legendary wine provocateur Rainer Zierock, seems to have supernatural powers: “They always have the best weather! They must have cut a deal with the Devil,” he laughs. “It doesn’t feel like a trade fair. You end up with grand winegrowing estates standing shoulder-to-shoulder with hippies. That’s a good thing. Ultimately, it pushes everyone to be better. Good agriculture, no cultured yeasts, and as little sulfur as possible: these have a certain intrinsic value, but just as importantly, they bring people together.”
With a view toward the natural wine scene, Zierock notes: “Other trade fairs are more culturally specific, with a push to be more and more radical. Fortunately, elegance is back in demand in Italy. There’s no appetite for just another cloudy strudel.” Fordadori himself organizes a dinner just before Summa to show how good agriculture can be when it comes from one farm.
Summa 2024 brought together producers from nine countries, most from Italy, Austria, and Germany, with a handful from Switzerland. “We always have a core of producers, with roughly 30 new winemakers joining them,” reports Helena Lageder. The choice of whom to invite is made internally within the family. The nod tends to go to estates of a similar sensibility, who work using organic or biodynamic methods.
The Lageders themselves cultivate 50 hectares biodynamically and partners with almost 60 smaller winemakers in the region who tend an additional 85 hectares. The 2024 vintage will mark the first in which all 140 hectares are fully organically or biodynamically certified. “It’s a massive step,” says Helena Lageder. “We switched over in early 2000, right around the time of the first Summa. The process is now finished, the partners have all done their homework, and they wanted to do it, it wasn’t forced through grape prices.”
Summa of more than its parts
All who make the trek here are clear about the objective: to encounter wines informed by hand-craftsmanship, sustainability, and passion. Josef Maier of Weingut Geyerhof in Austria’s Kremstal attended the fair for the third time this year. “We were overwhelmed by the ambiance,” he says — strong words from a vintner who lives on a historic farm, uses horses in his vineyards, and whose mother is an icon of organic viticulture in Austria. Ilse Maier ran Geyerhof starting in 1988 based purely on organic principles and was a member of La Renaissance des Appellations, a biodynamic movement founded by cult French organic winegrower Nicolas Joly.
Given that the old models for wine trade fairs seem to be in transition, Maier says, focused events are a boon for both winemakers and retailers right now. Awareness of how wine is grown and made is much greater at Summa. This is underscored by supporting events: Twelve masterclasses are available on Saturday alone, with cellar and estate tours featuring lectures on farm organisms and biodynamics in the vineyard.
Given that the old models for wine trade fairs seem to be in transition, focused events are a boon for winemakers and retailers right now.
Fred Loimer of Weingut Loimer of Austria’s Kamptal is one of Austria’s first biodynamic estates and has been part of the Summa family almost since the beginning: “The quality and selection of producers is at the highest level,” he says, “and almost all are exclusively organic: An important statement. It is an honor to be part of it. It’s one of the world’s loveliest wine events as well!” he adds, drawing on his experiences at fairs from Tokyo to Toronto.Matthieu Boesch from Domaine Léon Boesch of Alsace freely admits: “Summa is fun for the producers, too.”
Although he generally prefers spending his time amidst his vines or in the cellar, Summa provides an opportunity to talk with fellow winegrowers, and he finds the direct encounters between winegrowers and retailers very valuable. That’s how Andreas Wickhoff sees things, too: “We get feedback from the Italian market here, and people have plenty of constructive things to say. At Vinitaly, we were little more than a note in the margins,” he says openly.
Planting a Flag
The native Alsatian has a tip for winegrowers attending for Summa the first time: “Always come in pairs because you have to have the chance to taste, since so many top estates are here!” he notes, while tasting with colleague Simone Adams of Adams Wein in Rheinhessen, Germany at the stand of Marie-Thérèse Chappaz of Valais, Switzerland. It’s Chappaz’s first time at the event, as she’d never previously been able to put down the work in her own vineyards to attend. “An unbelievably pretty place, perfectly organized. Everything here is in flow!”
Adams is also a Summa newbie. She did manage to visit Weingut Lageder during her days as a student in Friuli. “Summa was already a big topic back then,” she says. “For me, it’s truly something special to be part of this fantastic group of producers. The public is simply outstanding: colorful, like the logo of the Summa itself.” She shares Josef Maier’s view: “Everyone who comes here is intentionally planting their flag on the side of orientation, style, and form of cultivation.”
“Summa” derives from summarum: the sum of the winegrowers, a shared mindset, the power of the collective. At each Summa, the number of participating estates is not all that is growing. The number of winegrowers pursuing the same agricultural path is, too. This spirit can be felt everywhere, not least in the smiles on both sides of the stands. “The exchange is and remains familiar,” says Helena Lageder at the end of our chat. She and her family have succeeded — without selling the soul of Summa to the devil.
Translated by Weinstory.de
