2023 Girlan Pinot Bianco, Alto Adige

A simple and crisp pinot bianco with chalky white fruit. Fresh and easygoing on the palate, with a short, clean finish. Drink now. Screw cap.

89 points  jamessuckling.com

The Girlan Pinot Bianco from Alto Adige is a beautifully pure and expressive white wine that showcases the finesse and alpine freshness typical of this mountainous region in northern Italy. Girlan, or Cantina Girlan, is a historic cooperative founded in 1923 and based in a 16th-century farmstead in the heart of South Tyrol. While it may be a co-op, this is no mass-market operation — Girlan is widely regarded for its precision, quality, and focus on terroir, especially for native varieties and cool-climate expressions.

Pinot Bianco (known as Weissburgunder in this German-speaking region) thrives in the calcareous and volcanic soils of Alto Adige, where warm days and cool nights preserve acidity and aromatics. The grapes for this wine are hand-harvested from vineyards sitting between 400 and 500 metres above sea level, fermented in stainless steel and aged on fine lees for a few months to build texture.

The result is a wine that is quietly sophisticated. It opens with aromas of white pear, apple blossom, and citrus zest. On the palate, it's clean and bright with a core of stone fruit, a touch of almond, and a chalky mineral finish that gives it lovely lift and persistence. Dry, elegant and very drinkable, it’s the kind of wine that rewards close attention but is also brilliant with food.

Try it with trout, grilled calamari, soft cheeses or even creamy risotto. It’s drinking beautifully young, but will hold and evolve gracefully over 3 to 5 years.