2021 Abbazia di Novacella Sylvaner Valle Isarco Alto Adigo is sold out.

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Editor’s Choice from one of the world’s oldest wineries

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  • 92 pts Wine Enthusiast
    92 pts WE
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2021 Abbazia di Novacella Sylvaner Valle Isarco Alto Adigo 750 ml

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  • Curated by unrivaled experts
  • Choose your delivery date
  • Temperature controlled shipping options
  • Get credited back if a wine fails to impress

Fantastic Monastic White Wine from the Alps

Abbazia di Novacella’s Sylvaner takes everything you think you know about Italian wine, runs it through a gamut of contradictions—and ends up as one of the absolute best values in crystalline, laser-focused whites.

Made by a Gambero Rosso Winemaker of the Year, it’s a beautiful blend of something northern and austere softened by a southern-facing charm—and it won’t leave your memory after you take a sip.

We first tried Abbazia di Novacella’s Sylvaner at a tavern in Bolzano, and it caught us off guard with the quality it offered for such a modest price. 

Fans of racy Pinot Blanc or aromatic Pinot Gris will not be able to resist this one. It's dangerously thirst-quenching, and it has a complex fruit-floral-herb tension and focus that makes it a best-in-class cool-climate white. Those are the same qualities that merited Editor’s Choice honors from Wine Enthusiast, who praised it as “extremely refined” with a “delicious, elegant palate.”

Abbazia di Novacella, founded in 1142, is one of the oldest wineries in the world. It's also one of the northernmost wineries in Italy. Vintner Celestino Lucin guides the fruit off of the abbey’s organically farmed vineyards through a cellar regimen that includes fermentation and aging in stainless-steel tanks, buttressed by limited use of large acacia casks to provide a bit more texture. It’s a perfectly executed take on an under-the-radar grape.

Although it’s stellar with the traditional cuisine of the region, you don’t have to be sitting in the straight-backed velvet-lined chairs of an Alto Adige tavern eating goulash with Tyrolean bacon dumplings to enjoy this wine. We’d recommend a beautifully sauteed trout or perhaps some golden roasted cauliflower—or even a sunny autumn day.