Killer Kerner - Wine & Spirits Magazine

Wine of the Week

Killer Kerner

by Stephanie Johnson • November 14, 2022

The terraced Novacella Vineyards on the Abbazia di Novacella estate. (Photo: Albert Ceolan)

Founded by Augustinian monks in the 12th century, Abbazia di Novacella remains a working monastery as well as a winery, the latter specializing in white varieties of Alto Adige such as kerner, a crossing between riesling and schiava grossa. Nestled in Alto Adige’s Isarco Valley, less than 30 miles from the Brenner Pass that crosses the Alps into Austria, the abbey’s vines climb more than 2,600 feet above sea level, where cool evenings preserve this wine’s zippy acidity. The wine is vinified and aged entirely in stainless steel to emphasize the variety’s fresh floral scents and flavors of tangy mandarin orange and juicy peach.

Abbazia di Novacella USA, Sausalito, CA

91

Abbazia di Novacella 2021 Alto Adige Valle Isarco Kerner

$23

Where To Buy

Every week, our editors highlight a wine that intrigued them in our blind panel tastings, expanding on their tasting note in this space. These are entirely editorial choices; there are no paid placements. Subscribers can also access the original tasting note by searching h ere.

Stephanie Johnson

is the Italian wine editor at Wine & Spirits magazine.

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TAGS Alto Adige Italy Wine of the Week

David Paradela
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David joined Wine & Spirits in 2021 after immersing himself in the world of wine at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally from Boston, he graduated from Boston University with a degree in English and completed a master’s degree in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College in 2021. Prior to working at the magazine, he served as an editor and staff writer for the music blog Sound of Boston and worked in scientific publishing. Aside from wine, he loves basketball, arguing about Taylor Swift’s best album, and everything Greta Gerwig touches.

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Corey Warren moved to New York in 2015—fifteen years too late to join The Strokes—after earning a degree at Cornell in Comparative Literature. He started polishing glasses at Betony and threw himself into the restaurant world. Later, while a captain at Aquavit, he began working part time in the Wine & Spirits tasting department. Now, in addition to running tastings, he serves as critic for the wines of the Loire, Southern France, Argentina and South Africa. Corey likes almost anything bubbly, from Miller High Life, the Champagne of beers, to Champagne, the Champagne of Champagne, but he’ll drink anything once, and loves finding unique wines.

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After graduating with a degree in journalism from the Universidad de Chile in Santiago, Patricio Tapia attended Bordeaux University in France, where he studied for a diploma in wine tasting and winemaking. Since then, he has visited wine regions around the world and authored several books, including his annual Descorchados, a Chilean wine guide; The Wines of Colchagua Valley; TodoVino and Wines for Great Occasions. Tapia is also the South American correspondent for The Oxford Companion to Wine, The World Atlas of Wine and Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Book. For the past three years, he’s been a host on the El Gourmet channel in South America. At Wine & Spirits, Tapia is the critic for the wines of Argentina, Chile and Spain, and regularly contributes articles on these regions.