Showing a lean garnet appearance, the Weingut Niklas 2021 Alto Adige Schiava (with 5,000 bottles made) exhibits a wild character with forest berry, fresh blueberry and cassis. Those small-berry nuances give this wine a punchy, easy-drinking style with fresh acidity. It would pair nicely against a home-roasted chicken marinated in garlic and rosemary. The vineyards are located at 300 to 400 meters in elevation with loamy soils and pebbles.

Schiava is a lean-bodied and ruby-red indigenous grape from the far north of Italy that always delivers a fresh and easy-drinking personality. The Weingut Niklas 2020 Alto Adige Schiava is another wine from this producer that I have not tasted in a while. This expression is vinous and raw with punchy aromas of wild berry and blueberry. This is a simple and stripped-down wine with nice acidity and a fresh finish. Drink it up with a cheese-less pizza with tomato, oregano and sardines.

Weingut Niklas has crafted a delicate and subdued expression of the sometimes exuberant Schiava grape. The 2015 Alto Adige Schiava opens to a light ruby-garnet color that recalls Pinot Noir. The bouquet is simple and not particularly intense. It offers mild tones of wild cherry and moist earth with bitter almond at the back. This is a light and compact red wine that would pair with chicken salad or other lean white meats. Drink it within the next two years.

The Weingut Niklas 2014 Alto Adige Schiava is a frank and authentic expression of one of the up-and-coming grape varieties to characterize the Northern Italian wine scene. The wine's appearance is thin and luminous with brilliant ruby hues. The bouquet offers mild tones of wild berry, pressed flowers, rose petal and lightly toasted pine nut. The mouthfeel is very streamlined, crisp and sharp.