An estate from the thirteenth century and an import from Rhineland Palatinate: the Rielingerhof in Collalbo on the Renon plateau is over eight hundred years old, but only since 2011 has the grape harvest been made into wine at the estate, including Riesling. Winegrower Matthias Messner learned to love it during his years of apprenticeship in Rhineland Palatinate in Germany. And this import from the Rhine has found outstanding conditions here.

As early as the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Rielingerhof in Siffiano, a district of Collalbo on the Renon plateau, was first mentioned in a document. A wine pressing stone from that time is still in the farmhouse – as testimony to the 800 year-old tradition of winegrowing at the estate, which came into the possession of the Messner family in 1956.

And now it is Matthias Messner who holds the reins here. He learned the art of winemaking both in Alto Adige and in Germany. “From the Rhineland, I brought along my love of Riesling, which brings forth such noteworthy quality on these mineral-rich soils,” Messner says. And what provides this is not only the soils, which are ideal for fruity wines with mineral tones, but also the elevation of the two hectare vineyards (at 750 meters!), the southern exposure of the mountainside, and last but not least their slope. “It reaches up to 75 percent,” Messner explains.

In such extreme locations, work by hand is required, added to which Messner manages his Rielingerhof in Collalbo purely organically. All of the wines that originate here are certified organic: the white Blatterle, Müller Thurgau, and Kerner, and the red Schiava and Zweigelt.