2012 Pinot Noir Riserva Vigna Ganger
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We opened a bottle of the 2012 Alto Adige Pinot Noir Riserva Mazon Vigna Ganger during my visit to Girlan this year. I was quite impressed with this wine when it was first released and am delighted to revisit the bottle today. It remains an innovative expression from Alto Adige. With only 2,100 bottles produced, you get a veiling of tar, dark spice, Mediterranean fruit, rose and mineral tones with firm structure. Coming back to the wine now, the youthful brightness is milder. In terms of tannins and concentration, this vintage is similar to 2016 and 2019. This wine was not produced in 2013 due to hail damage. Thankfully, there was no hail in 2022, but the problem is definitely becoming more frequent with hail episodes occurring almost every year in recent vintages.
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Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate
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The grapes come from the Ganger vineyard, a monopole owned by Girlan in Mazzon, an area that is considered a cru site for Pinot Noir. Lustrous and just mid ruby. Very fine, precise sweet raspberry and strawberry fruit with a stalky note and a hint of oak. The fruit on the palate is a little marked by creamy oak for the moment, and this clearly needs more age, but it certainly oozes class as well as potential. Very promising and complex, and totally convincing without it aping either Burgundy or New Zealand. Very long and fragrant. (WS)