A tried-and-true classic to set aside for your next baked cod or striped bass, the 2019 Alto Adige Valle Isarco Riesling Praepositus offers light layers of tropical fruit with varietal tones of petroleum and flinty stone at the back. There is also some very subtle sweetness at the back with peach and lemon. In fact, the wine seems a year or two older than it is, with faint hints of that classic Riesling evolutionary trajectory. It has taken a proud step forward in time.

The Abbazia di Novacella 2018 Alto Adige Valle Isarco Riesling Praepositus does a terrific job of drawing out the purity of this German grape, while showing Italian sunshine and extra luminosity at the same time. Some 10% of the fruit comes in as late harvest, and this accounts for the extra softness and textural richness shown here. However, the grapes are sourced from high-altitude vineyards, so you can count on the linearity and sharpness of the Riesling variety, with its fresh and tonic citrusy aromas, to take center stage. Production is 13,000 bottles.

The 2017 Alto Adige Valle Isarco Riesling Praepositus is a little slow to open, owing its fruit from a hot and not always easy vintage. The bouquet shows honey, Golden Delicious apple and pear. The wine's bouquet is still far from full bloom, but you do get some brief diesel fumes with aniseed or licorice. There is a touch of latex rubber too. The finish is a bit flat in this vintage, but I wonder if this will clean up with time. Some 10,000 bottles were made.

The 2016 Alto Adige Valle Isarco Riesling Praepositus is a delightful wine with abundant stone and passion fruit. This is a classic and authentic expression of the grape with a lean, mid-weight approach. The wine ends with zesty freshness coupled by drying mineral tones. This wine is both finessed and elegant.

The 2015 Alto Adige Valle Isarco Riesling Praepositus shows candied fruit aromas with apricot, honey and sweet almond on first nose. This is an almost off-dry expression with round and succulent exotic fruit flavors. Indeed, some 10% of the fruit is picked late or further into the harvest season to allow for the development of extra sugars and aromatic intensity. In fact, those grapes come off the vines in mid-December, which of course entails enormous risk on the part of the winemaking team. In the case of this Riesling, it's a risk well worth taking.