Dear Readers,
What’s in a name? As we put together this issue focused on the fascinating northern Italian border region of Südtirol-Alto Adige, we confronted a distinctive dual identity represented in two languages for every village, vineyard, and variety. To our editorial consternation, it slowly became clear that so much can be so inextricably tied up in a name that any simplification makes it impossible to isolate one identity without negating the other.
Identity has no easy answers. Especially in a place as complex as Südtirol-Alto Adige. It is one of the smallest and most intriguingly layered, and for that reason, perhaps, least understood, wine regions of Europe. In many ways, it’s also a paradigm of what TRINK is all about: confluence and connection.
We hope you’ll be as absorbed as we are by Südtirol-Alto Adige’s poignant history, its “fractal” (in the words of one of our contributors) composition of communal structures — from monasteries to co-ops to consortia of all sorts — its unbowed individualists, and, of course, the wines that reflect all of this.
We think it important to point out here that the Consorzio Alto Adige Wines/Südtirol Wein is a valued partner of TRINK magazine. We are grateful that editorial discretion for the selection of topics, nature of coverage, and choice of producers highlighted in this and all issues of TRINK is entirely ours.
Vol. 3 grapples with complexity in other areas, too. Meg Maker unravels the tangled origins of Austria’s St. Laurent variety. Paula Redes Sidore explores Germany’s myriad philosophies of late-release wines. Frank Scherp trains his keen eye on the Swiss canton of Zürich to uncover new talents.
As ever, we welcome your feedback! Drop us a line at [email protected]
Paula Redes Sidore, Bad Honnef
Valerie Kathawala, New York
