The Abbazia di Novacella 2017 Alto Adige Pinot Nero Riserva Praepositus is a beauty. This wine presents delicate and finely nuanced aromas that span from wild berry and cassis to dried lavender and lilac. Pinot Nero offers so many of those random aromas too, such as orange zest, white licorice root and cedar. You get those here too. This wine is aged in barrique and tonneaux for two years, but only one-third of the total sees new wood. There is a touch of phenolic bitterness in this vintage. Production is 10,000 bottles.

Abbazia di Novacella is known as Stiftskellerei Neustift in German. The 2015 Alto Adige Pinot Nero Riserva Praepositus shows a dark hue and above average concentration. This is a polished and bright expression of Pinot Nero with candied cherry aromas, cassis and fragrant wild violets. This is a mid-weight effort with a mild and delicate flavor profile. I found this vintage to be more one-dimensional than past editions. It also shows a very distant point of sweetness that underlines the heat of the vintage.

The 2013 Alto Adige Pinot Nero Riserva Praepositus shows a dark garnet color with dim ruby highlights. The wine offers a good amount of aromatic intensity, yet those aromas are never too marked or prominent. This wine takes a delicate, understated approach with wild berry aromas followed by dried mint, pressed violets and rose hip. The mouthfeel is smooth and silky.

Urban von Klebelsberg (the Abbazia di Novacella general manager) and his winemaking team have produced the delightful 2010 Alto Adige Pinot Nero Riserva Praepositus that shows the upside to the vintage year. This is a focused and polished expression that glides over the palate with enduring, silky intensity. As it works its way over the senses, it imparts fine layers of forest berry, wild fruit, cola, balsam herb and pressed violets. It boasts bright acidity, firm texture and a darker shade of Pinot Nero ruby-garnet.

The 2007 Lagrein Riserva Praepositus is a fabulously ripe, explosive wine endowed with tons of blue and black fruit, licorice, tar, scorched earth and smoke. This shows marvelous concentration and depth in a silky, elegant style that is totally irresistible. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2019. Importer: Abbazia di Novacella, USA, Sausalito, CA; tel. (917) 699-2647