It may well sound like a cliché, but: when one door closes, another one opens. When transferred to the Kandlerhof in Santa Maddalena/Bolzano: when in the late 1960s, grape buyers were putting the financial screws on, the Spornberger family decided to make their own wine. And that’s how success stories begin.

But the roots of this success story of the Kandlerhof in Santa Maddalena/Bolzano reach far deeper. As early as 1278, the estate already existed which, in the eighteenth century, was renamed “Kandler” because this is where a tinsmith (in German, “Kandler”) carried out his handicraft. The Spornberger family took over the estate from him in 1793, and since that time it has remained in the possession of the family.

The father of Kandlerhof wine is Gregor Spornberger, who made the switch from pure grape production to winemaking and to being one of the forerunners of the increased use of machines in Alto Adige winegrowing. Today, his son Martin is at the helm of the Kandlerhof in Santa Maddalena/Bolzano, having learned the work by hand in winegrowing and oenology from the very bottom up, all the way to his university degree.

He is the one who is responsible for the two hectares of grape growing areas in Santa Maddalena. They are planted with the indigenous red wine varieties of Schiava and Lagrein, with Merlot, and with the white variety Sauvignon Blanc. “Our wines are aged in old vaulted cellars in a manner that is typical to the variety and the location,” Spornberger explains. “White and rosé wines in stainless steel tanks, the red wines for the most part in large wooden barrels.”

Thus classic quality wines are produced, first and foremost the calling card of the Kandlerhof in Santa Maddalena/Bolzano, a Santa Maddalena classico.